KAMPALA, Uganda — A Ugandan court on Wednesday started hearing the case against two Ugandans accused of engaging in gay sex, the first such trial since a severe law was enacted in February.
Ugandan anti-gay activist Pastor Martin Ssempa posts a public notice offering “rehabilitation” for homosexuals.
Gay businessman Kim Mukisa, 24, and Jackson Mukasa, 19, a transgender woman, pleaded not guilty on Feb. 6, where they were accused of “living as husband and wife,” reports 76 Crimes.
Ugandan police arrested the couple in January as they fled an angry mob, said the Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum, a local watchdog group.
The detained couple appeared before a magistrate’s court in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, to apply for bail after prosecutors said they had enough evidence to proceed with the case.
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Prosecutors have lined up several witnesses to testify against the two, who have been charged with engaging in sex acts “against the order of nature,” said their lawyer, Ladislaus Rwakafuuzi.
Although Uganda has had anti-gay legislation since the colonial era, President Yoweri Museveni enacted a law in February that strengthened criminal penalties against gay sex.
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In signing the bill, Museveni said he wanted to deter Western groups from promoting homosexuality in this East African country.
Some Western countries have since withheld or cut aid to Uganda over the law, urging the country’s legislators to repeal it.
Ugandan government officials have described Western pressure over the bill as blackmail.
