Uganda Abandons Prosecution of Females Detained for Public Display of Affection

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Ugandan prosecutors said on Friday that they have thrown out a case against two women arrested for kissing in public under an anti-gay law considered one of the harshest in the world.

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Uganda’s 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act imposes penalties of up to life imprisonment for consensual same-sex relations, while “aggravated homosexuality” is punishable by death.

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The two women, both in their 20s, were arrested in February following a complaint from neighbours in the northwestern city of Arua.

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Neighbours took photos of them and they were suspected of “same-sex orgies”, local police spokesperson Josephine Angucia told AFP at the time.

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“I confirm that the case was withdrawn from court by the DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions),” Irene Nakimbugwe, the deputy spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office, told AFP.

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Human rights lawyer Frank Mugisha welcomed the decision to throw out the case, but said it “should never have reached this stage”.

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“Kissing is not a crime, and no one should be persecuted for who they are or who they love. I hope this decision marks the beginning of a wider review of similar cases and that all unjust prosecutions arising from the Anti-Homosexuality Act are dropped,” he told AFP, calling for the law to be repealed.

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Rights groups say the law is often used for blackmail and extortion of the LGBT community in Uganda, a conservative and predominantly Christian country in east Africa.

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The law triggered outrage among rights campaigners and condemnation from the United Nations and Western countries, and the World Bank suspended funding to the country, although this resumed in mid-2025.

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AFP

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