UGANDA: Court To Hear Nicholas Opiyo’s Defence Against Anti-Gay Law. On Monday, October 2, 2023, Uganda’s Constitutional Court took the first step towards hearing a challenge to a draconian anti-gay law that rights activists and Western governments have condemned.
The Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA), which President Yoweri Museveni signed into law in May, is one of the world’s harshest anti-gay laws, punishing some same-sex acts with the death penalty.
Lawyers in the case met with the court registrar and agreed to reconvene on Oct. 12, when the case will be forwarded to the court’s judges to set a hearing date, according to Nicholas Opiyo, an attorney for the organizations contesting the law.
“Our hope is that this petition is heard and resolved as soon as possible because people’s lives are at stake. There are people whose lives are inextricably linked to the outcome of this petition,” Opiyo stated.
So far, at least six people have been charged under the law, and rights organizations reported last week that they had documented hundreds of cases of torture, evictions, and intimidation against LGBTQ people this year.
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