Ugandan Attorney General appeals to High Court for anti-gay law reinstatement
The Attorney General of Uganda has appealed a ruling which struck down the country’s anti-gay law.
Peter Nyombi appealed to the country’s High Court this afternoon, seeking to have the Anti-Homosexuality Act reinstated. The law, signed by President Yoweri Museveni in February, further criminalised homosexuality with increased prison sentences.
Last Friday, the country’s Constitutional Court struck down the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act, finding that the speaker of Parliament acted illegally by moving ahead with a vote on the law despite at least three lawmakers objecting to a lack of quorum.
A group of Ugandan MPs are currently gathering signatures in order to force a vote on putting the law back in place urgently, despite regulations preventing them from doing so.
So far at least 165 MPs have signed the petition, and want the parliament’s procedures amended to allow the bill to pass at a short notice.
The decision to appeal by Nyombi may alter the mood at a planned LGBT Pride event in Kampala this Saturday.
Homosexuality is still illegal in Uganda, despite the striking down of the law
