Police in Uganda on Sunday raided an
LGBT shelter in Kampala, accusing them of violating the nation's
social distancing policy aimed at slowing the spread of the new
coronavirus.
LGBT rights advocate Frank Mugisha
described the charges as a pretense.
“It is evident that they were
arrested because of their homosexuality,” Mugisha is quoted as
saying by ABC
News. Some of the people are “on AIDS medications,” he said.
Three of the 23 people caught in the
raid were freed because of ill health, he said.
The house targeted by the police was a
known shelter for LGBT people seeking support and had been previously
raided by the police, Mugisha said.
Gay sex is a crime in Uganda and 32
African nations, according to Human Rights Watch.
In 2014, Uganda's highest court struck
down on a technicality a law that made gay sex punishable by death.
The law was dubbed the “kill the gays” bill.