10:29 ET<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nUganda’s parliament has adjourned without debating a controversial bill which includes the death penalty for some homosexual acts.<\/p>\n
It had been reported that a vote could be held on Friday.<\/p>\n
The Anti-Homosexuality Bill has been condemned by Western leaders and human rights groups, some of whom are celebrating “victory”.<\/p>\n
The bill, first introduced in 2009, could still be brought up when the new parliament meets later this year.<\/p>\n
Uganda is a largely conservative society and many people condemn homosexuality both as un-African and un-Christian.<\/p>\n
But in recent years, some gay rights groups have been set up in the country.<\/p>\n
Homosexual acts are already illegal in Uganda but the bill would increase the penalty for those convicted to life in prison.<\/p>\n
Those found guilty of of “aggravated homosexuality” – defined as when one of the participants is a minor, HIV-positive, disabled or a “serial offender” – would face the death penalty.<\/p>\n
Anyone failing to report to the authorities a person they knew to be homosexual would also be liable to prosecution.<\/p>\n
International pressure<\/span><\/p>\nInternet campaign group Avaaz said the bill’s lack of progress was a “victory for all Ugandans and people across the world who value human rights”.<\/p>\n
“We must now ensure this heinous bill can never return to parliament again,” said Avaaz campaign director Alice Jay.<\/p>\n
Maria Burnett of Human Rights Watch said it would still be a very long fight to stop the Ugandan legislation as “the issue has not gone away”.<\/p>\n
“The international pressure over the last year and a half has been very important to show that Uganda cannot act in isolation from the international community,” she said.<\/p>\n
US President Barack Obama has condemned the bill and donors have urged Uganda’s government to ensure the measures never become law.<\/p>\n
But David Bahati, the MP who introduced the private member’s bill, said he would try to re-introduce it when the next parliament convened after February’s elections, and said it had achieved his goal of sparking debate.<\/p>\n
“We have made important steps in raising the issue and that will continue,” he was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.<\/p>\n
In January, David Kato, a campaigner who led condemnation of the bill, was murdered not long after suing a paper that outed him as gay. Police denied the killing was because of his sexuality.<\/p>\n
Three months before the murder, Uganda’s Rolling Stone newspaper had published the photographs of several people it said were gay, with the headline “Hang them.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n
Originally posted here:
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