Uganda Police accused of raping male prisoners
Detainees allege that Ugandan officers routinely rape male inmates as a form of torture
Human rights activists have demanded the Uganda Police Force respond to allegations of widespread human rights violations within its cells, including reports of officers raping male inmates.
Jim Spire Ssentongo, a renowned human rights advocate, was the first to demand an explanation from the Uganda Police leadership.
“Uganda Police, come out and talk about these allegations of young boys/suspects being ‘sodomised’ by your officers under police custody. We can’t let this pass just like that,” he wrote in a July 24 post on his X account (formerly Twitter).
Mr. Spire also shared screen shots containing messages he says came from some of the victims/former inmates narrating their ordeal in the hands of homophobic police personnel.
One of the victims writes, “The police officer told me that ‘since you are funded by homosexuals now we are going to give you a justification for the money.’ Then he raped me [anal].”
The victim’s alleged crime was participating in peaceful protests against widespread corruption in the parliament of Uganda and demanding for the resignation of the homophobic and corrupt house speaker Anita Among.
Another message from a young opposition activist addressed to Mr. Spire reads, “Thanks doctor (Spire) for the concern. I appreciate whole heartedly. But the goons sodomised us we were beaten badly. But all will be well soon.”
The Central Police Station situated in the center of Kampala has been singled out as the center of these gross human rights abuses, but up to date, no meaningful investigation or action has been taken against the officers involved, even in cases where the alleged abusers have been clearly identified.
“So a government that claims to fight homosexuality uses (anal) rape as a form of torture! How did we get here? @PoliceUg when did you become a sodomising institution?” Spire wrote on X.
Under the Anti-Homosexuality Act, security personnel involved in raping inmates could be charged with aggravated homosexuality, which is punishable by death.
Reports of Ugandan security personnel using (anal) rape as a form of torture are not a new development. Many LGBTQI+ persons who have been detained at Central Police Station and Luzira Prison have repeatedly accused their jailers of rape and forced anal examinations among other abuses.
All these complaints have fallen on the deaf ears of the Ugandan authorities.
The most recent accusation came from Ronald Agaba, a gay activist who was arrested by state operatives on March 14 for protesting against corruption in the office of the Speaker of Parliament Anita Among.
“After forced anal fingering using cooking oil and forced oral sex by fellow homophobic prisoners, countless rapes, thumps, stripped bare to see how a gay’s anus looks like, labels, humiliation, beatings, both at CPS and in Luzira and of course normalized in Luzira for anyone suspected to be gay, I thought I would never smile or be free again. It’s a mystery,” Agaba wrote on X.
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