By Enyichukwu Enemanna
A male Ugandan activist who was detained for participating in an anti-government protest banned by the President Yoweri Museveni administration has been sexually molested while in police custody, his lawyer has alleged.
Eron Kiiza did not however name his client or the station where the abuse took place, citing security concerns.
“He was sodomised immediately after he was detained,” Kiiza told the BBC.
The police believe the protesters are backed by foreign funders, the lawyer stated.
He was making reference to those who have cut funding or were critical of Uganda for adopting the world’s harshest anti-homosexuality laws last year.
“The police think that gay people are funding the protests,” Mr Kiiza said, adding that his client was told during the assault: Now you earn it.’
“It happens in the wake of desperation of some guys in the police [who are trying] to find a connection between the protests and the so-called foreign funders,” the lawyer said.
“It is like a revenge act.”
Kiiza said he had medical documents that show the sexual abuse and he would use them to sue the authorities once his client was done with treatment and rehabilitation.
Heritage Times HT reports that at least 90 youths have been arrested, charged to court and detained for what authorities say constitute public nuisance after an anti-corruption demonstration in the capital, Kampala.
Some protesters who have been released from custody say they were also sexually assaulted while in police cells, an allegation police have denied.
President Museveni had earlier warned that those planning the two-day anti-corruption protest were playing with fire.
Youths in the country however defied the threat and staged protest on Tuesday and Thursday.
The allegation attracted widespread condemnation on social media with Ugandans calling for an independent investigation into the matter.
“If true, the people doing that may the Lord judge you!” Youth Minister Balaam Barugahara Ateenyi, posted on X.
The minister acknowledged that the allegations were dehumanising and said the country’s police chief should investigate them.
Heritage Times HT reports that a constitutional Court in April affirmed an anti-gay law that allows the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” despite widespread condemnation from rights groups and others abroad.
Museveni signed the bill into law in May last year supported by many in the East African country, where some see it as behaviour imported from abroad and not a sexual orientation.
