Trending 
A Ugandan court has dismissed the first case brought under the country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023, in a decision welcomed by human rights campaigners and legal observers.
The law, widely described by critics as one of the harshest anti-gay statutes in the world, imposes penalties of up to life imprisonment for consensual same-sex relations and includes provisions under which “aggravated homosexuality” can attract the death penalty.
The case, filed three months after the legislation was enacted, involved a man who is now 25 years old. He had been accused of “unlawful sexual intercourse with a male adult aged 41”, an offence punishable by death under the Act. The accused spent 350 days in detention while proceedings were ongoing.
In January 2024, prosecutors amended the charge to “unnatural offences of having carnal knowledge against the order of nature”, which carries a sentence of life imprisonment, according to his lawyer, Douglas Mawadri.
On Monday, however, the court dismissed the case, ruling that the accused was “mentally unstable and does not understand the trial process”. The defence team had argued that he developed psychosis and schizophrenia during his prolonged detention.
The passage of the Anti-Homosexuality Act sparked international condemnation, including from the United Nations and several Western governments.
Uganda, a predominantly Christian and socially conservative country in East Africa, has long been criticised for its intolerance towards same-sex relationships.
The World Bank, which had suspended funding to Uganda following the law’s passage, resumed financial support in mid-2025.
