Spectrum Executive Director Arrested

Activist Samuel K. Ganafa

Hot on the heels of Uganda on Move activist Mleuben Maccarthy's arrest whilst returning for his mother's funeral, now the Executive Director of Spectrum Uganda has been arrested:

Gay Ugandan Activists Arrested, Detained Without Charge

A prominent LGBT advocate in Uganda has been arrested, jailed since Tuesday, and three times had his home raided — all without being informed of the charges against him. At least four other LGBT advocates have been arrested with him, according to reports from Ugandan activists. Police have refused to confirm under what, if any, crimes the activists are suspected of committing.

Samuel K. Ganafa is the executive director of Spectrum Uganda and the board chairman for Sexual Minorities Uganda, two of the most prominent LGBT rights organizations in the East African nation, where homosexuality is illegal.

More in PinkNews: Uganda: Police arrest leading LGBT rights activist Sam Ganafa

Meanwhile, Spectrum's Facebook forum reported the following this morning:

Wonder shall never end... As we woke up this morning Beautiful Sam Samuel Ganafa already in news papers...

Red Pepper once again leading the way in hatred and persecution.

The official press release from SMUG is as follows:

STATEMENT ON THE ARREST AND DETENTION OF MR. SAMUEL K. GANAFA AND FOUR OTHERS

For Immediate Release

Thursday 14.11.2013

Kampala, Uganda

Mr. Samuel K Ganafa, The Executive Director of Spectrum Uganda Initiatives and Board Chairperson of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), was arrested on Tuesday November 12, 2013. He had reported to Kasangati Police Station on the outskirts of Kampala pursuant to a phone call from the District Police Commander Chemonges Seiko asking him to report to the said station.

Upon reporting to the station he was immediately handcuffed by a police officer. Without show a warrant of arrest he was forced onto a police pickup truck and taken twice to his residence, which was searched. The search was conducted without a search warrant. During the unwarranted search three houseguests of Mr. Ganafa, namely Joseph Kayizi, Kasali Brian and Michael Katongole were also arrested and taken to the police for questioning as well. His nephew Brian Kasirye who had rushed to the police station to check on him was also detained.

Later the police subjected Mr. Ganafa to an HIV test without a court order or his consent.

Yesterday Wednesday 13th November, we received news that a one Disan Twesiga was the complainant. Disan alleges that Sam infected him with HIV and that there is more information in Mr. Ganafa’s reading room prompting another search of the residence. The police took him along for all the three times they searched.

As of today November 14th the complainant Disan Twesiga has held a press conference with all media houses at Kasangati Police Station. The police paraded Mr. Ganafa before the media during a press conference. This is despite the fact that he has not been found guilty by a court and is thus presumed innocent under the law. By close of business today, all the five suspects remain in custody without being officially charged and without being brought before court despite the expiry of the constitutionally warranted 48 hours.

Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), Spectrum Uganda, Civil society coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law are closely following the case, and have instructed lawyers to represent all the accused. An application for the release of the detainees has been filed and is pending hearing as there was no Magistrate to hear it today.

Sexual Minorities Uganda, Spectrum Uganda Initiatives and Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law strongly condemn the manner in which Mr. Ganafa was arrested and the manner in which the searches were conducted, his humiliating display before the press, as well as the violation of the 48 hour rule for producing a suspect before court.

We also call upon the Ugandan Police to release Mr. Ganafa and the four other arrested persons or immediately produce them before a court of law, and we urge them to respect the basic rights of the suspects.

It is worth noting that this is not an isolated case, but it is one of a series of documented arrests targeted against the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) persons in Uganda. We therefore call upon the police to STOP the continued intimidation of the entire LGBTI community and the legal representatives of the detained persons.

Contacts:

Pepe Julian Onziema
+256 772 370 674 onziema@gmail.com

Moses Kimbugwe +256 78 383 8259 / 031 251 3345 spectrum.uganda@gmail.com
Spectrum Uganda Initiatives

Francis Onyango +256 414 666 242/ 0712 394 721 onyango@onyangoadvocates.com
Onyango & Co. Advocates

Contact Persons at the Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law

Geoffrey Ogwaro +256 782 176 069 Byarugaba Clare +256 774 068 663
Email: ahbcoalition.coordinator@gmail.com

Killing Gays a Distraction from Corruption

Corruption is a running background theme for many of the key characters in Uganda's Kill the Gays movement, from Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa to the never ending (scratch that - never starting) trial of Ethics Minister Simon Lokodo. It's also been postulated on several occasions that the Bahati Bill makes a useful distraction from Uganda's real problems.

When you look up Uganda on Transparency International, the first line of their report states:
 

Corruption in Uganda is widespread and seen as one of the greatest obstacles to the country’s economic development as well as to the provision of quality public services.

Which makes this recent article, a 60-page document released by Human Rights Watch, unsurprising yet no less chilling:

Uganda: 'Letting the Big Fish Swim' - Failures to Prosecute High-Level Corruption in Uganda

The news that US$12.7 million in donor funds had been embezzled from Uganda's Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) hit the headlines in many donor capitals in late 2012, prompting serious questions about Uganda's commitment to fight corruption. The stolen donor funds were earmarked as crucial support for rebuilding northern Uganda, ravaged by a 20-year war, and Karamoja, Uganda's poorest region. Approximately 30 percent of the national budget came from foreign aid in 2012. As a result of the OPM scandal and claims that the money was funneled into private accounts, the European Union, United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, and Norway suspended aid...

Corruption in Uganda is severe, well-known, cuts across many sectors, and is frequently debated and discussed in the media. Such corruption undermines human rights in multiple ways: a direct defiance of the rule of law and accountability, it indicates that the law and its institutions cannot be relied on to protect against violations of fundamental human rights or deliver justice.

The plight of Ugandan politicians to demonise gay people as a distraction from their own criminal activities has been likened to Hitler's persecution of the Jews to take people's minds off Germany's economic problems prior to the Second World War, and is indeed leading to speculation over impending violence on a national scale in Uganda.

Perhaps the reason so many other African countries are quick to follow suit is because corruption is a huge problem throughout the continent.

Randall Update

An update on Bernard Randall, the Brit who was arrested in Uganda with his partner:

Brit on trial for gay sex in Uganda: ‘I’m living in fear’

Randall has said he is now moving house every couple of days out of fear of attack. He cannot fly out of the country due to the Ugandan government holding his passport until his trial.
‘I never know if someone is going to recognise me, be anti-gay and attack me,’ Randall said, as reported by The Times.
- See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/brit-trial-gay-sex-uganda-im-living-fear111113#sthash.d6auZRW6.dpuf

Randall has said he is now moving house every couple of days out of fear of attack. He cannot fly out of the country due to the Ugandan government holding his passport until his trial.

‘I never know if someone is going to recognise me, be anti-gay and attack me,’ Randall said, as reported by The Times.

Meanwhile, one of Uganda's leading crackpot hate preachers, Solomon Male, is running around telling everyone: "[Homosexuals] control the police, they control the judiciary, they even hold the Government to ransom."

Sounds a lot like Scott Lively's 'the Nazis were a macho gay group' rhetoric, which in any healthy society should be receiving professional psychological treatment.

Who Matters?

An interesting article:

Are some gay people worth more than others in the activism game?: Omar Kuddus asks if LGBTI activism has become dominated by ‘fashions’ and whether a focus on Russia is distracting from the wider struggle for rights

Russia’s anti-gay legislation and homophobic and transphobic climate have drawn condemnation from around the world and many governments. And activists have been targeting Russia Sochi and the multinational companies supporting and endorsing the Winter Olympics to make a stand.

But the plight of fellow LGBTIs in the rest of the world seem to have been ignored.

The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), lists over 76 countries with criminal laws against sexual activity by LGBTIs including the infamous seven which carry the death penalty for these ‘offenses’: Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen – plus some parts of Nigeria and Somalia via Sharia law...

Activism for the LGBTI cause seems to be becoming segregated and diluted into country-specific causes and we are losing the global picture for equality for all – this must be addressed.

Reporter Randal Mason adds his concerns in an article for The Huffington Post:

Beyond Russia: LGBT Rights Are Human Rights Around the World

Homophobic and transphobic violence happen everywhere. The issue of anti-LGBT violence in Russia has become a cause célèbre over the last several months, in part due to the approaching Winter Olympics in Sochi. And while this coverage shines a much-needed spotlight on the worsening plight of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Russians, it often fails to acknowledge that homophobic and transphobic violence are problems in every region of the world, including in the United States...

Attention to international LGBT issues is, thankfully, more prominent than ever. But to focus on only one nation is myopic and ignores the struggle for human rights and dignity of a great many people around the world.

What do you think on this matter? Drop a comment to let us know.

EU Asylum Ruling

Landmark ruling by the EU:

EU rules that gay Africans are entitled to asylum

According to the European Court of Justice, a gay refugee from a country where people are jailed for being homosexual does qualify as a persecuted group eligible for asylum.

The court's ruling concerned three homosexual men from Sierra Leone, Uganda and Senegal who had sought asylum in Holland, but is binding for all EU countries, including Britain.

Top EU court ruling backs gay African asylum bids

The Netherlands had asked the court for advice about three gay citizens of those countries seeking asylum.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) says asylum can be granted in cases where people are actually jailed for homosexuality in their home country.

ECJ rulings apply to all EU members...

The ECJ, based in Luxembourg, says laws specifically targeting homosexuals do make them a separate group.

Glad we got that cleared up.

Schedule Set for SMUG v. Lively

Scott Lively, the American hate preacher who thinks Nazis were an aggressive gay movement, has been stirring up homophobia in Russia and Uganda for a long time.

Sexual Minorities Uganda, backed by the Center for Constitutional Rights, are suing him for Crimes Against Humanity.

After dismissing Lively's request to dismiss the lawsuit earlier this year, parties were back in court on 6th November 2013 to set the timescale for the trial.

Schedule Set for Historic Anti-gay Crimes Against Humanity Trial

Lively did not appear although he did have one supporter attend. In contrast, about 3 dozen supporters were there to support the Plaintiff, SMUG, from Stop The Hate And Homophobia Coalition, LGBT Asylum Support Task Force, Arise for Social Justice, Recovery Learning Center, and other interested individuals...

Lively himself has already issued a “hit-list” on his blog of those he feels are responsible for the case...

Another interesting statement made by Liberty Counsel during the proceedings was that Lively does not want CCR  to have subpoena power to obtain evidence against him, as he wildly claims that such could ‘harm foreign relations.’  An amused and frustrated CCR, responded that it was too soon to know if that course would be needed.

There is a lot that must happen before the actual trial can begin, including probably yet another attempt by Lively for an unlikely dismissal. The final hearing before the trial is currently scheduled for May 6, 2015!

You can find the schedule order at the bottom of that article.

Meanwhile, Lively has resorted to witchcraft to try to 'confuse' the prosecution.

Human Rights Campaign Foundation Grants

The Human Righs Campaign Foundation (TM) is offering funding for international LGBT Rights campaigns:

HRC Foundation launches program to fight homophobia and transphobia internationally

In keeping with HRC’s mission to end discrimination against LGBT people, the grants will help fund efforts to educate Americans on the human rights of LGBT people around the world; provide fellowships at HRC for foreign LGBT advocates; expose the work of prominent anti-gay American organizations that have pushed anti-gay laws and legislation overseas; and leverage its relationships with American policymakers, faith communities, corporations and other change agents to help protect the human rights of LGBT people abroad.

All good stuff, but the article doesn't mention anything about how much they're putting forward, who exactly can apply, or how.

Their website is even quieter on the subject, with nothing at all mentioned under their Coming Out section, although there is a shiny feel-good video of lots of Americans outing themselves on national television. 

Looking forward to bringing you more news on that, if there is any.