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Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni signed into law legislation with harsher penalties for LGBTQ people, including death and life-imprisonment sentences.
Uganda’s Speaker Of Parliament Rt.Hon. Anita Among.Photo by Eric Dominic Bukenya/Parliament Of Uganda.
The president “has assented” to the bill, which now becomes law, his office announced in a post on its Twitter account.
- Activists have previously vowed to challenge the law in court, citing controversial provisions that include extreme punishments for offenders.
President Museveni has signed the anti-gay bill into law following improvements adopted to make it tougher for people engaging in LGBQT.
House in Session recently.Photo by Ronald Kabuubi/KMA Updates
“President Museveni has executed his constitutional mandate as prescribed by Article 91 (3) (a) of the 1995 Constitution- and assented to the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023,” parliament Speaker Anita Among confirmed on Monday.
“We have stood strong to defend the culture, values and aspirations of our people as per objectives 19 & 24 of our national objectives and directive principles of state policy,” she added.
Parliament modified the bill on May 2 after its initial March 21 draft sparked international condemnation for targeting people identifying as LGBQT.
Consequently, Museveni’s April 20 proposal for a review of the legislation aimed to improve the law to instead punish same-sex actors and its promoters amongst minors in the hardline socially conservative East African nation.
On Monday, Among tweeted “encouraging duty bearers under the law to execute the mandate bestowed upon them in the Anti-Homosexuality Act.”
“The people of Uganda have spoken, and it is your duty now to enforce the law in a fair, steadfast, and firm manner,” she added.
Activists have previously vowed to challenge the law in court, citing controversial provisions that include extreme punishments for offenders.
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