In a landmark ruling, Uganda’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday upheld the anti-gay law that President Yoweri Museveni signed last year.
The legislation, which was signed into law by Mr. Museveni in May, calls for life imprisonment for anyone who engages in gay sex.
Anyone who tries to have same-sex relations could face up to a decade in prison.
Uganda has faced international consequences for passing the law, with the World Bank suspending all new funding and the United States imposing sanctions and visa restrictions on top Ugandan officials. But the law was popular in Uganda, a landlocked nation of over 48 million people, where religious and political leaders frequently inveigh against homosexuality.
The fallout for Uganda will be watched closely in other African countries where anti-gay sentiment is on the rise and anti-gay legislation is under consideration, including in Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania and South Sudan. In February, Ghana’s Parliament passed an anti-gay law, but the country’s president said that he would not sign it until the Supreme Court ruled on its constitutionality.
In Uganda, the five-judge bench said the law violated several key rights granted in the country’s Constitution, including the right to health and privacy. They also struck down sections of the law that criminalized failing to report homosexual acts, allowing any premises to be used to commit homosexuality or giving someone a “terminal illness” through gay sex.
But in their 200-page judgment, the judges largely rejected the request to quash the law.
