Ugandan boyfriend of deported British man receives death threats from neighbours

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The Ugandan boyfriend of Bernard Randall, a gay British man arrested in Uganda after pictures of him having sex appeared in a newspaper, is fearing for his life after receiving death threats from neighbours.

Mr Randall was originally charged with “trafficking obscene publications” for possessing a video of a sexual act, and is currently awaiting deportation in a cell at Entebbe International Airport, following a ruling on Wednesday.

His boyfriend, Ugandan national Albert Cheptoyek, faces a much more serious charge of gross indecency, which can carry a jail term of up to seven years.

According to The Observer, Mr Cheptoyek has been rejected by his local community and now fears for his life after his neighbours threatened to kill him.

“I don’t know what will happen to me,” he said. “They say that, at the least, I will go to prison. But there is nothing to do. I could not go with Randall: I do not have a visa. Besides, this is my country.”

He added he was surprised by the order to deport Mr Randall from the country, particularly after hoping that the court would clear their names as “sodomisers” and return their stolen property, including the laptop from which the images were leaked.

He said Mr Randall had spent two nights in a cell before leaving the country.

“He was treated like a suspect in the cells. He slept on the floor for two nights. He was not happy to leave without justice – without his stolen property.”

Mr Randall, a retired banker from Kent, was arrested in October and charged with “trafficking obscene publications” after Uganda’s Red Pepper newspaper made public the details of the video on its front page under the headline: “Exposed – Top City Tycoons Sodomy Sex Video Leaks.”

Mr Randall, who had pleaded not guilty, claims that robbers who stole his laptop unearthed the film, and passed the footage to the newspaper.

He could have faced up to two years in prison if found guilty.

In December, Uganda’s Parliament passed legislation to toughen the punishment for same-sex sexual activity, including life imprisonment for ‘repeat offenders’.

Last week, President Yoweri Museveni vetoed the bill, stating that there were better ways to “rescue” people from the “abnormality” of homosexuality.

The move to drop the bill came after criticism from the UK and US governments, and business magnate and investor Sir Richard Branson.

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