Summary:

• Ugandan gay rights activists urge international pressure to repeal anti-gay law upheld by Constitutional Court, allowing death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” and up to 14 years in prison for related offenses.

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Ugandan gay rights activists asked the international community to mount more pressure on the government of Uganda to repeal an anti-gay law which the country’s Constitutional Court refused to nullify on Wednesday.

The court upheld a law that allows the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality,” and up to 14 years in prison for a suspect convicted of “attempted aggravated homosexuality.” The offense of “attempted homosexuality” is punishable by up to 10 years. Homosexuality was already illegal in Uganda under a colonial-era law criminalizing sexual activity “against the order of nature.” The punishment for that offense is life imprisonment.