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Saturday, December 21, 2013

Ugandan MPs pass life imprisonment anti-gay bill

Uganda's parliament has passed a bill to toughen the punishment for homosexual acts to include life imprisonment in some cases.

The anti-homosexuality bill also makes it a crime punishable by a prison sentence not to report gay people.

The bill drew wide condemnation when it was first introduced in 2010 and initially included the death penalty, but that was removed from the revised version passed by parliament.

The law passed on Friday sets life imprisonment as the penalty for gay sex involving an HIV-infected person, acts with minors and the disabled, as well as repeated sex offenses among consenting adults, according to the office of a spokeswoman for Uganda's parliament.

"Now anybody found practising, recruiting for or publicising homosexuality commits a felony," said Simon Lokodo, Uganda's Minister of State for Ethics and Integrity.

He added that the law provided for punishments of between two years and life behind bars.

"We will get hold of all those encouraging others to become homosexuals or lesbians. Anybody we find recruiting or using materials to promote homosexuality, we will arrest."

For the bill to be enacted it must be signed by President Yoweri Museveni.

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