Reports suggest that Uganda’s new parliament will consider the notorious anti-homosexuality bill

The last parliament, which was dissolved last week, ran out of time to debate the draft legislation, which calls for the death penalty for some cases of gay sex.

A BBC World News Service report said the ninth parliament has inherited three bills from its predecessor – one of which is the anti-homosexuality bill.

The Ugandan Daily Monitor also reports that the bill is expected to be debated.

According to Box Turtle Bulletin blogger Jim Burroway, the BBC report said: “The 9th Parliament has inherited three controversial bills that form part of its deliberations. They include the anti-homosexuality bill which was shoved at the 11th hour of the 8th Parliament, the Marriage and Divorce Bill which, among other things, would criminalise marital rape, widow inheritance [sic], in addition to providing for women’s property rights and rights to negotiate sex including seeking divorce on grounds of the man’s impotence or the size of their sexual organ. Another controversial bill is the one that seeks to enact more stringent laws for the media.”

The bill, introduced by MP David Bahati, was designed to strengthen Uganda’s already-harsh laws against homosexuality.

Clauses called for the death penalty for “aggravated” homosexuality, while those who fail to report incidences to police would be jailed.

The bill received worldwide condemnation from countries, gay rights campaigners and human rights groups.

Source: PinkNews, May 19, 2011

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Uganda anti-homosexuality bill off the table as parliament is dissolved

A Ugandan parliamentary debate and vote on a draconian anti-homosexuality bill due to happen today did not take place after the country’s parliament was officially dissolved.

Ugandan MPs had been set to debate the bill, which could allow the death penalty for homosexual acts in some cases, but parliament was dissolved on Friday without any new legislation being discussed.

“We are relieved that the Anti-Homosexuality Bill was not passed into law today,” said Michelle Kagari, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Africa.

"This bill would have institutionalised the discrimination, including harassment and arbitrary arrests, that LGBT people in Uganda already face."

New Members of Parliament will be sworn in next week after February 2011’s general elections. The bill could be reintroduced when the new parliament begins sitting then.

Ugandan and international rights organisations, including Amnesty International, have been campaigning for parliament to reject the bill, which also proposes life imprisonment for entering into a same-sex marriage.

Source: Amnesty International, May 13, 2011

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Uganda’s anti-gay bill disappears from parliament’s agenda after global outcry against bill

Uganda’s parliament appeared Wednesday to have dropped plans to debate a controversial anti-gay bill after a global outcry from U.S. leaders, rights groups and an Internet campaign.

The anti-gay bill was first proposed in 2009 but wasn’t debated until last Friday. The bill had been scheduled to be debated before the full parliament on Wednesday but was dropped from the schedule.

The future of the bill remained murky. Wednesday was parliament’s last scheduled day of session, and President Yoweri Museveni was scheduled on Thursday to be sworn in after his February re-election. It wasn’t clear if the bill could be carried forward to the next session or if the bill’s author would have to offer a new bill, which he has said he will do if needed.

The original bill would mandate a death sentence in some cases, part of the reason it attracted global attention. The bill’s author, David Bahati, has said a new version of the bill would not contain the death penalty, but no amended version has been released publicly.

One member of parliament, John Alimadi, said Wednesday that the bill may have been dropped from the agenda because of the worldwide outcry against it.

Online petitions from the groups Avaaz and Allout said they had gathered more than 1.4 million signatures. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called the bill’s progress deeply alarming. A U.S. congressman said if the bill passes he would urge huge cuts in international aid, and the U.S. State Department again voiced its opposition.

“If adopted, a bill further criminalizing homosexuality would constitute a significant step backwards for the protection of human rights in Uganda,” said Hilary Fuller Renner, a spokeswoman for the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs. “Respect for human rights is key to Uganda’s long-term political stability and democratic development, as well as its public health and economic prosperity."

Gay rights groups say that the harassment of gays has increased in Uganda since the introduction of the bill in October 2009.

Last year a tabloid newspaper in Uganda published the names and photos of men it alleged were gay. One cover included the words “Hang Them.” Shortly afterward, in January, a prominent gay rights activist whose picture was published was bludgeoned to death, though authorities contend David Kato’s sexual orientation had nothing to do with the killing.

Bahati’s original bill carries harsh provisions. It would mandate a death sentence for active homosexuals living with HIV or in cases of same-sex rape. “Serial offenders” also would face capital punishment. Anyone convicted of a homosexual act would face life imprisonment.

Anyone who “aids, abets, counsels or procures another to engage of acts of homosexuality” would face 7 years in prison. Landlords who rent rooms or homes to homosexuals also could get 7 years.

If the bill is picked up by the next session, some, all or none of those provision could change during parliament negotiations.

Homosexuality is highly unpopular in Uganda, and pastors in this Christian country speak out loudly against it. Bahati has said he thinks the bill would become law if voted on.

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank said in a statement Tuesday he was disturbed that parliamentarians were again discussing the bill. He said if it becomes law that he would urge the U.S. government to oppose any aid to Uganda from international institutions that the U.S. belongs to, such as the World Bank and African Development Bank.

Avaaz, an Internet group that champions action on issues like poverty and climate change, said it had collected more than 1 million Internet signatures from people opposed to the bill. The group wants parliament to reject the bill or Museveni to veto it if it passes.

“In 24 hours, the Ugandan Parliament may vote on a brutal new law that carries the death penalty for homosexuality. Thousands of Ugandans could face execution — just for being gay,” the group’s website said. “We’ve helped stop this bill before, and we can do it again."

Source: Associated Press, May 11, 2011

May 11, 2011, 17.30 GMT Update

Associated Press reports that officials have indicated that the bill will now be debated on Friday in an extra session.
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British Foreign Secretary William Hague urges Uganda not to pass Anti-Homosexuality Bill

Foreign Secretary William Hague has re-iterated the government's opposition to Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill, urging local officials to reject it.

Writing on micro-blogging site Twitter he said: “We oppose this bill and will continue to raise our concerns with Ugandan government. We urge Ugandan MPs to reject it.”

He continued: “Our embassy is lobbying Ugandan go and the UK initiated a formal EU demarche to the Ugandan foreign minister on the bill.”

Currently under review, the bill could see homosexuals either placed in prison or - if earlier versions of the Bill are passed - sentenced to the death penalty.

The proposed bill has been under a committee review for the past 48 hours and is expected to be either voted-in or rejected imminently.

A core supporter of the Bill told the parliamentary committee he doesn’t support the Bill’s death penalty clause. Despite this, Pastor Martin Ssempa still urged MPs to pass the legislation to control queers.

Naturally, global pressure is mounting. Conservative civil liberties spokesman in the European Parliament, Timothy Kirkhope, and Charles Tannock MEP also called on the EU's External Action Service to reinforce the EU's opposition to such a Bill, which the parliament has twice condemned in foreign affairs resolutions.

Tannock said: "The European Parliament and the EU's High Representative Ashton must bring the influence of the international community to bear on Uganda. We must make it clear that this outrageous law must not be allowed to pass.

"There is a very worrying violent and abusive environment towards homosexual people in Uganda and it must be condemned as far and wide as possible by the West."

Kirkhope added: "The right to live free from fear on the basis of sexuality should be an inviolable right across the world.

"There is no place in this world for laws that make homosexuality a criminal offence punishable by either long prison sentences or even death. The parliament of Uganda needs to look at how it can create a climate of tolerance in its country, rather than the very worrying climate of hatred that we have seen in recent years."

Source: PinkPaper.com, May 11, 2011

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Uganda Kill The Gays Bill May Become Fast Tracked Into Law

The Uganda Kill The Gays Bill, aka the Anti-Homosexuality Bill (AHB) may be quickly on its way to becoming law, as the Uganda lame duck parliament’s session comes to a fast close, possibly on May 11 — just days from now. The bill, infamous around the world for its provision mandating the death penalty for anyone convicted of the “crime” of homosexuality, anyone convicted of same-sex rape, anyone who is classified as a “serial offender,” even anyone with HIV, may or may not include the death penalty provision, according to author of the bill, David Bahati, who claimed last week he would “concede” the provision if it would move the bill into law. Many believe that concession to be a ruse. Contrary to a published AP report, the death penalty provision has not been dropped.

“I know that the process of legislation is moving forward,” said Bahati, according to a report from Warren Throckmorton, who writes, “Today, public hearings on Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill took place before the Parliamentary and Legal Affairs Committee, according to the bill author, David Bahati. In an interview, Bahati said that the Uganda Reform Commission and several religious leaders were on the list of those slated to provide testimony.”

“Bahati declined to say that the bill would be voted on next week, saying that the actual end of Parliament is not until May 18 when the 9th Parliament also begins. According to Charles Tuhaise, a researcher for parliament’s research office, most of the business will be concluded by the end of next week. He told me that the hearings for the Marriage and Divorce Bill have concluded and those for the Anti-Homosexuality Bill began today. Tuhaise said the antigay bill hearings will probably conclude on Monday."

No word yet from Uganda President Museveni, who recently stated he wanted the Kill The Gays Bill dropped, on whether he would sign it.

According to trusted reports, including Jim Burroway of Box Turtle Bulletin, the AHB’s chances may be growing, as Uganda is currently experiencing great citizen unrest, and parliament sees passage of the bill as an opportunity to create a “diversion."

“Uganda has been rocked in recent weeks with rioting and demonstrations against rising gas prices,” Burroway writes. “The government has been responding with extraordinarily violent crackdown on dissent. One opposition leader was seriously injured and fled to neighboring Kenya for treatment. The disturbances even spilled onto the floor of Parliament, which had to suspend its session temporarily on Tuesday."

Relying on information from GayUganda, Burroway adds ”that forces behind the bill see as an opportunistic diversion for the violence that is racking the country,” but adds that the “diversion also can work both ways. With most of the media’s attention focus on the ongoing violence and protests, it could also be that the bill’s supporters see an opening for it to be passed when nobody’s paying attention."

The Kill The Gays Bill also mandates jail time for those who know of homosexuals but do not report them to authorities within 24 hours and offers a maximum of seven years prison time for even renting a room to someone who is homosexual. Any assistance to a gay man or lesbian would be considered criminal.

The bill reportedly was shelved in March, but Bahati — who has said he wants to “kill every last gay person” — appeared defiant, stating at the time, “I think that the government is aware that 95 % of Ugandans do not condone homosexuality."

One week later, supporters of the bill, lead by right-wing zealot Pastor Martin Ssempa, presented to Speaker of the Uganda Parliament, Edward Ssekandi, a petition reportedly carrying 2 million signatures, demanding the “Kill The Gays” bill — also known as the “Anti-Homosexuality Bill” — become law.

The “Kill The Gays” bill, which has also become known as the “Bahati bill,” is necessary — according to the team of Pastor Ssempa and David Bahati — because homosexuals are supposedly “recruiting children” in Uganda, and, the two claim, paying them large sums of money to have same-gender sex or to become homosexual. The petition reportedly came with a list of nineteen organizations that they claim are “promoting” homosexuality in Uganda.

But no one has ever provided actual proof. Bahati, who has a Cardiff University MBA, has been repeatedly asked in this country by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow for any proof of these allegations. Bahati promised to provide it but never has.

Source: The Advocate, May 6, 2011


Gay activists’ petition against Ugandan ‘kill gays’ bill

Gay rights campaigners hope to collect enough signatures to ask Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni to refuse to sign an anti-homosexuality bill.

The legislation, in its current form, calls for harsher punishments for homosexuality. For “aggravated” case, such as those involving disabled people, those with HIV or minors, it calls for the death penalty.

Landlords, teachers and family members could also be prosecuted for failing to report gay people to police.
The status of the bill has been unclear for months, with conflicting reports about its progress through the legislature.

Late last year, it appeared to have been scrapped. However, campaigners say that parliament may vote on it this week and are urging people to sign a petition against it.

The petition, started by Allout.org, says: “Our best chance at stopping the bill is each other – if thousands of us spread the word we can make clear that the world is watching and we will not allow this to stand.”

The appeal adds: “Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has shown himself to be sensitive to international pressure. Last year, a massive response from people around the world pushed him to stop the bill in its tracks.”

President Museveni has not given his opinions on the bill but ethics minister James Nsaba Buturo said last January that the leader did not agree with killing gays and lesbians.

The anonymous blogger GayUganda wrote last week that parliament’s return to the bill was a “diversion” tactic to take attention away from riots and the fear of more civil unrest.

Source: PinkNews, May 9, 2011

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Sierra Leone pardons 96 prisoners - including 5 death-row inmates - on independence anniversary

Sierra Leone feted its 50th anniversary of independence from Britain on Wednesday with a colourful parade and government pardon of 96 prisoners, five of whom were on death row.

In a nationwide broadcast President Ernest Koroma hailed the country's progress since the end of a devastating decade-long civil war in 2002, one of the continent's bloodiest in which tens of thousands were killed and mutilated.

"We fought a war but we have sustained the peace that is the envy of the world. We have had spells of unelected leadership but we are today the shining example of a country that is consolidating its democracy," he said.

The speech was followed by a parade by the country's armed forces and some 4,000 school children at the national stadium in the capital Freetown.

Presidents from Mali, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia and Senegal were present as well as high-ranking delegations from the European Union, South Africa, Israel, Britain and China, foreign ministry officials said.

After Sierra Leone was recently named among countries that have officially expressed opposition to a proposed universal moratorium on the death penalty, Freetown on Wednesday pardoned five death row prisoners, including a woman.

The state pardon now leaves 8 males and 1 woman on death row, a prison officer told AFP.

According to state records, there has not been any execution in the former British colony since 1998 when 24 military officers were executed after a 1997 coup attempt.

Sierra Leone's 1991 constitution allows the use of the death penalty for aggravated robbery, murder, treason and mutiny.

Source: Agence France-Presse, April 27, 2011

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Asia-Australia Banana Farms Battling Bacteria

By ONE Liners Agency

AUSTRALIA NEWS - Banana plantations in Australia are facing a major threat due to bacteria traveled from Indonesia, Philippines and Africa. Discussions recently in the Northern Territory's capital Darwin at a scientific conference revealed that three very similar types of bacterias from the three region have spread quickly.

The bacterias are Indonesia's blood disease bacterium, Philippines' bugtok bacterium and Africa's xanthomonas bacterium, said Australian plant pathologist at the conference hosted jointly by Australian and Asian Plant Pathology Societies.

The bacterias are one of the biggest threats to the bananas there and for the first time scientists from Asia and Australia have come together to gain some research findings from the discussions.

Richard Davis, Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service plant pathologist, said the bacteria have been very devastating in these countries and have spread too quickly, crossing hundreds of kilometres in a year.

About 400 scientists attended the event from Australia, Indonesia, Solomon Islands, Philippines, Fiji, East Timor, Africa and Papua New Guinea.

Meanwhile, the prices of bananas in Australia have soared after the devastation caused by Cyclone Yasi in February this year.

Uganda gay bill may lose death penalty clause

The Ugandan parliamentarian behind an anti-gay bill that attracted worldwide condemnation has said the most controversial part of the legislation - the death penalty provision - is likely to be dropped from the bill.

David Bahati said yesterday that if the parliament committee the bill currently sits before recommends that the death penalty provision be removed, "I would concede."

"The death penalty is something we have moved away from," Mr Bahati said.

After his anti-gay bill was proposed some 18 months ago, it attracted international condemnation, including from President Barack Obama. Since the initial uproar, the bill has languished in committee.

But Stephen Tashobya, the chairman of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, said the legislation may come up for a vote before parliament's session ends on May 12.

"We shall try and see how far we can go with the bill," he said.

Source: The Scotsman, April 27, 2011

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Mozambique: Community Court Reintroduces Death Penalty

Although the death penalty was abolished in Mozambique in 1990, a Community Court in the central province of Manica sentenced a man to be beaten to death for the alleged theft of an ox-cart.

To make matters even worse, the court took advice, not from any lawyer or other person recognised under Mozambican law, but from a witch-doctor.

According to a report on Radio Mozambique on Thursday, the Community Court in Chirere locality, in the Manica district of Mossurize, after a divining session organised by the witch-doctor, ordered the suspect to be tied to a tree and beaten. He was thrashed until his back was broken - which the Radio described as the cause of death.

When the complaint about the stolen cart was made, the court did not seek any assistance from the police. Instead, with the full backing of the head of the Chirere locality, Shupai Samissone, they asked the witch-doctor to cast a spell to find who was guilty.

When news of this gruesome execution reached the Mossurize district administrator, Luis Chimoio, he ordered an investigation, which culminated in the arrest of Samissone.

Samissone was detained, Chimoio said, because his duty was to prevent the lynching. Instead, by authorizing the use of sorcery by the court, he had contributed to the murder of the alleged thief.

"The investigation is still under way", said Chimoio, "We want to find out the mentors and real causes of the crime. The judges of the community court and their assistants will have to face justice, but they are not currently detained".

Source: All Africa News, February 17, 2011

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EU tells Uganda to protect gays

David Kato

The European Parliament has urged Uganda to decriminalise homosexuality and protect gays and lesbians after a prominent gay rights activist was murdered last month.

The 27-nation assembly adopted a resolution on Thursday calling on Ugandan authorities to conduct an in-depth investigation into the murder of David Kato and probe individuals who publicly called for his killing.

It urged Uganda to ensure gays and lesbians "are adequately protected against violence, and to take prompt action against all threats or hate speech likely to incite violence, discrimination or hostility towards them".

The call came on the same day that a leaked US embassy cable on WikiLeaks revealed that Kato was mocked at a UN-backed debate on Uganda's anti-homosexuality bill where a member of the Uganda Human Rights Commission "openly joked and snickered" with the supporters of the bill.

According to the cable, the debate in December 2009 was organised with funding from the UN and sought to discuss a controversial bill seeking to impose the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality" for consenting adults who have gay sex.

A US diplomat quoted in the cable said Kato delivered a well-written speech against the bill introduced by a born-again MP, David Bahati, but his words were almost inaudible due to "his evident nervousness".

Homophobia in Uganda runs deep and ministers and pastors often rail against gays and lesbians, accusing them of importing and adopting "rotten" Western culture.

Kato's murder on January 26 triggered a wave of condemnation from rights groups who criticised Uganda for ignoring the plight of gay people in the country and urged authorities to investigate the murder.

Although the Ugandan police have since arrested a suspect in connection with Kato's murder, they insist his death was a not a consequence of his gay activism.

The suspect is a male prostitute who confessed to murdering Kato after he reneged on an agreement to pay for sex, police say.

Last year, Kato was named and pictured by an anti-gay tabloid called Rolling Stone in a story that carried the headline "Hang Them" in reference to gay rights campaigners.

The people who appeared in the tabloid are "now in genuine danger of being persecuted, are in most cases now homeless, unemployed and forced to avoid public places, and must hide from public view," the parliament resolution said.

Source: Al Jazeera, Feb. 18, 2011

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Scott Mills: ‘Gay hatred is everywhere in Uganda’

"Hang them!"

The situation for gay people in Uganda was far worse than he expected, Scott Mills says.

Speaking to PinkNews.co.uk about an upcoming documentary, the gay Radio 1 presenter told how he feared for his own safety in the country.

Mills met anti-gay MP David Bahati as part of filming for ‘The World’s Worst Place to be Gay?’.

When the presenter said he was gay, Bahati became enraged and the film crew fled.

Later, they heard that Bahati had sent armed police to a hotel he thought they were staying at.

“I was really frightened,” Mills said. “It’s just something that you wouldn’t think would happen. It was a real shock to the system and we were told to lie low.”

He said: “I wasn’t aware before I went about what was going on in Uganda.

“I met gay people in safe houses because they had to flee their homes. The newspapers print their names, their photos, even what car they drive. These people are just hounded.

“It’s so bizarre that somewhere just seven hours away by plane can be so different.”

During filming, Mills met victims of homophobia and the pastors preaching against homosexuality.

“All the gay people we met had a story about how they had been tormented or attacked,” he said.

“There was a guy we saw in hospital, he had AIDS and was very ill. But because they knew he was gay, he wasn’t getting the right treatment. He’s dead now.

“Then there was a girl called Stosh, who had to go into hiding after her face was plastered across the newspapers.

“It’s all very well reading about these things but when you actually go to Uganda, you realise how bad things are. It was a lot worse than I expected.”

Gay people in Uganda have “an air of optimism”, he said. “But they’re faced with every pastor, every teacher in every school, saying the same thing.

“They think things will change but it’s going to take a long time.”

When asked how attitudes could change, Mills said: “I don’t really know. The West has been quite vocal and President Obama publicly denounced Uganda but [the preachers] still say homosexuality is un-African, that it is against the family.

“They think it was brought in by the West.”

Many of those he met had been accused of “promoting” homosexuality and “recruiting” children.

He said: “The pastors claim that gay people go into schools and offer children money but when you talk to the schools, they say it hasn’t happened. There’s no evidence for it.”

The film crew also saw first-hand the influence Western preachers have on anti-gay sentiment in Uganda.

“It’s all wrapped up in Christianity and evangelicalism,” Mills said. “And Americans come over to preach. We went to a sermon and saw a guy from Atlanta preaching gay hate.”

He added: “I went to Uganda with the aim of making a fair and balanced film but in two weeks, we couldn’t find any [non-gay] person saying that homosexuality was okay.”

‘The World’s Worst Place to be Gay?’ will be shown on BBC Three at 9pm on Monday February 14th.

Source:Pink News, Feb. 11, 2011

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Ugandan gay rights activist beaten to death

David Kato

A Ugandan gay rights campaigner who sued a newspaper for publishing the names and photos of gay people has been beaten to death.

David Kato’s death is being investigated by police and activists say he was attacked in his home near Kampala yesterday afternoon.

His name, photograph and address were published by the tabloid newspaper Rolling Stone last year and he is said to have received death threats.

Mr Kato, along with a few others, complained to a judge about Rolling Stone’s anti-gay campaign and the newspaper was ordered to cease outing gays and lesbians.

Sexual Minorities Uganda called him a “dear friend, colleague, teacher, family member and human rights defender”.

Frank Mugisha, of the group, said: “No form of intimidation will stop our cause. The death of David will only be honored when the struggle for justice and equality is won. David is gone and many of us will follow, but the struggle will be won. David wanted to see a Uganda where all people will be treated equally despite their sexual orientation.”

The Human Rights Campaign has called for a full investigation into his death.

"Hang them!"

Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda and an MP introduced a bill last year to punish “aggravated” cases with the death penalty.

Giles Muhame, the editor of Rolling Stone, told Reuters he condemned the murder but still wanted the government to hang gay people.

He said: “If he has been murdered, that’s bad and we pray for his soul.

“There has been a lot of crime, it may not be because he is gay. We want the government to hang people who promote homosexuality, not for the public to attack them. We said they should be hanged, not stoned or attacked.”

Source: Pink News, January 27, 2011

David Kato buried as pastor condemns homosexuality

Ugandan gay rights campaigner David Kato was buried today but scuffles broke out at his funeral as the pastor urged gays to repent.

Mr Kato, who was murdered in his home on Wednesday, was laid to rest in his village near Kampala.

Around 300 people attended the ceremony, including around 100 gays and lesbians.

US president Barack Obama sent a message to mourners, calling Mr Kato a “powerful advocate for fairness and freedom”.

He urged Ugandan authorities to find and punish Mr Kato’s killers.

Mr Kato’s body was displayed overnight in an open casket at his parents’ home and mourners at his funeral today wore t-shirts with his picture on.

But reports say that the ceremony was disturbed when the pastor began urging gays and lesbians to repent.

According to Reuters, the unnamed pastor told the crowd: “The world has gone crazy.

“People are turning away from the scriptures. They should turn back, they should abandon what they are doing. You cannot start admiring a fellow man.”

Mr Kato’s friends angrily stormed the pulpit before the pastor was taken away.

The activist’s friends had to bury his coffin because villagers refused to do it, reports said.

He was killed several months after suing a newspaper for publishing his name, address and photo in a homophobic campaign.

Source: Pink News, January 28, 2011
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Egypt sentences Muslim to death for Coptic shooting

CAIRO — An Egyptian state security court on Sunday sentenced a Muslim man to death for killing six Coptic Christians and a Muslim police officer in a drive-by shooting on Coptic Christmas Eve in January 2010.

Mohamed Ahmed Hussein, 39, known as Hamam Kamouni, had been charged with the "premeditated murder" of the Christians and the police officer and with "intimidating citizens" in Nagaa Hamady in southern Egypt after mass on the eve of Coptic Christmas.

The judge said Hussein's sentence would be sent to the Grand Mufti for confirmation, a reference to Egypt's top religious authority who is called on to confirm death sentences.

The court said Hussein's two accomplices, Kurashi Abu Haggag and Hindawi Muhammed Sayyid, who were charged with aiding in the murder and possession of weapons, would be announced on February 20.

Christians account for about 10 percent of Egypt's mostly Muslim population of about 80 million. Sectarian violence is rare, but disputes over issues including land rights or personal relationships occasionally erupt.

Last week a Muslim policeman was charged with shooting dead a Christian man on a train in the town of Samalut in southern Egypt and he will be tried for premeditated murder.

A New Year bombing outside a church in the port city of Alexandria killed 23 people and injured dozens in what analysts say was the worst attack on Christians in recent Egyptian history. The attack prompted protests by both Christians and Muslims.

The Nagaa Hamady shooting, in which nine Copts were injured, provoked protests by more than 1,000 local Copts.

Southern Egypt is much less developed than the capital Cairo. Nagaa Hamady, which has a large Coptic population, is about 60 km (40 miles) north of the tourist and archaeological center of Luxor.

The referral of death sentences to the Grand Mufti is a procedural step that almost always results in confirmation of the sentence.

Source: Reuters, January 16, 2011

UN votes to reinstate resolution condemning execution of gays

The United Nations General Assembly has voted to restore a reference to sexual orientation in a resolution opposing the unjustified killings of minority groups.

Last month, a UN panel deleted a reference to gays and lesbians in resolution introduced by Morocco and Mali. The vast majority of countries in support were African or Arabic.

Many of the supporting countries criminalise homosexuality and five treat it as a capital offence.

But today, the UN General Assembly voted 93 in favour of the United States’ proposal to restore the reference to sexual orientation, 55 countries voted against and 27 abstained. The assembly then approved the amended resolution with 122 in favour, none against and 59 abstentions.

The amendment passed last month called for the words “sexual orientation” to be replaced with “discriminatory reasons on any basis”. The resolution made explicit reference to a large number of groups, including human rights defenders, religious and ethnic minorities and street children.

It narrowly passed 79-70 and was then approved by the UN General Assembly committee with 165 in favour and ten abstentions. The motion condemns extra-judicial, summary and arbitrary executions and other killings, is voted on by the UN General Assembly every two years. For the past ten years, it contained references to sexual orientation.

Related articles: 'UN deletes gay reference from anti-execution measures', Reuters, Nov. 16, 2010, Pink News, Nov. 19, 2010, Pink News, Dec. 14, 2010, The Guardian, December 21, 2010

Source: Pink News, December 21, 2010

In Africa, homosexuality emerging as hot-button issue

In Kenya, Prime Minister Raila Odinga recently told supporters in the Nairobi slum of Kibera that he would order police to arrest gays. In Uganda and Malawi, debate is rising over the legality of homosexuality.

Long seen as a fringe societal taboo far from the realm of African politics, homosexuality is emerging as a hot-button issue throughout much of the continent. Kenya, East Africa's economic hub, joined the trend in late November when Prime Minister Raila Odinga told supporters in the Nairobi slum of Kibera that he would order police to arrest gays.

"We will not tolerate such behavior in the country. The Constitution is very clear on this issue, and men or women found engaging in homosexuality will not be spared," Mr. Odinga said in Swahili, in comments that were taped by several news organizations. "Any man found engaging in sexual activities with another man should be arrested. Even women found engaging in sexual activities will be arrested."

The statement -- which brought cheers in the Kibera slum -- has created a sharp divide between Christian conservatives, who argue that homosexuality is against religious laws and "the law of nature," and human rights activists, who argue that stigmatizing any minority is illegal. It serves as the latest example of an outlook driven by the growing political assertiveness of powerful Christian churches that bolster existing social stigmas against gays.

"Normally, we judge a country's development by its tolerance of minorities," says Njeri Kabeberi, executive director of the Center for Multiparty Democracy in Nairobi. "We've seen this same issue come up in Uganda, in Zimbabwe, in Malawi, where gays are assaulted, arrested, jailed. Anything like that, the prime minister should condemn, but instead, he's encouraging it."

Ms. Kabeberi encouraged the prime minister to retract his statement, if only because Kenya's newly enacted Constitution does not, in fact, make homosexuality illegal. (Kenyan law merely states that marriage should be defined as between a man and a woman.)

If the statement was Odinga's attempt to become popular with Kenya's powerful churches, she adds, "the wrath of the civil society is going to make him wish he wasn't popular on this issue. He should be urging Kenyans to be tolerant, instead of himself being intolerant."

While recordings of Odinga's speech have been made public online, Odinga's spokesman Dennis Onyango issued a statement saying that Odinga was misquoted.

Odinga said he intended to clarify that the Constitution was not, as alleged by opponents, going to legalize same-sex marriages.

Yet even this statement stops short of retracting the statement attributed to Odinga of calling for the arrest of gays.

A regional trend

In Uganda, where homosexuality is already illegal under British colonial-era laws, the parliament briefly debated and then withdrew a proposed bill that would have imposed lengthy sentences, and in some cases the death penalty, for homosexuals.

In Malawi, an openly gay couple was convicted in May under a colonial-era law banning "unnatural acts" and sentenced to 14 years in prison, before international pressure prompted the government to set the sentences aside.

And in Kenya, as the country prepared to vote last summer in a referendum to establish the new Constitution -- an attempt to prevent a return of the leadership crisis that followed ethnic clashes after the December 2007 elections -- it was conservative Kenyan churches (urged on by the Pat Robertson-funded American Center for Law and Justice) who opposed the Constitution, arguing incorrectly that the new Constitution would have legalized abortion and same-sex marriages.

Converging reasons

Wanyeki Muthoni, executive director of the independent Kenya Human Rights Commission, says that the tumult over homosexuality is the result of three converging trends.

First, Kenyan gays are becoming more politically active and vocal, lobbying hard for "basic equality and nondiscrimination." Second, the global debate over the ordination of gay priests, increasingly accepted in Europe and the United States, has caused a conservative backlash here in Africa, with African churches largely rejecting those reforms. Finally, African churches have been radicalized by what Ms. Muthoni charges is "the ever-increasing influence of homophobic American Evangelicals in Africa."

For Kenyan gays, Odinga's statement means tough times ahead.

"Harassment has been going on. Yesterday, two people were arrested by cops for homosexuality; three people were arrested the day before, but they managed to get out of jail," says Zawadi Nyongo, an independent social justice activist. "I have been receiving hate mail myself, through e-mail, and I'm not even on the front lines."

"We're all baffled by this," she adds. "How can a government that is trying to help people to get tested for HIV and to seek treatment, how can thatsame government talk about arresting gays?"

Source: Christian Science Monitor, December 9, 2010

Truffa alla nigeriana

La truffa alla nigeriana è un raggiro informatico (ma che circola anche per posta ordinaria) tra i più diffusi al mondo inventato per la prima volta nel 1992 per lettera e nel 1994 per e-mail. Esistono centinaia di varianti a questa truffa, ma più o meno il senso è sempre quello: uno sconosciuto non riuscirebbe a sbloccare un conto in banca di milioni di dollari, ed essendo lui un personaggio noto avrebbe bisogno di un prestanome discreto che compia l'operazione al suo posto. Invita così alcuni utenti concedendo loro questa possibilità in cambio di una promessa fetta del bottino. La truffa è chiamata anche 419 scam (419 è il riferimento numerico della legge nigeriana, disinvoltamente ignorata dai nigeriani, che rende illegali questi inviti).

Esempi di personaggi noti e immaginari che possono chiedere questo tipo di servizio sono:

• Il figlio dell'ex presidente del Congo Mobutu Sese Seko.
• Danjuma Gwarzo, figlio di Alhaji Ismaila Gwarzo, ex consigliere per la sicurezza del defunto ex capo di stato nigeriano Sanni Abacha.
• Williams Gumbeze, figlio di uno dei più ricchi agricoltori di colore dello Zimbabwe.
• Chuma Emmanuel, erede di una famiglia agricola sempre dello Zimbabwe.
• Charles Dubem, Segretario Generale del Comitato di Assegnazione degli Appalti dell'Ente Federale per Gas e Petrolio della Nigeria.
• John Pujeh, della Sierra Leone, figlio dell'ex ministro dei trasporti del paese.
• Femi Kokoma, assistente personale del defunto capo della sicurezza dell'ex presidente della Somalia.
• Mohammed Alpha, "Operations Manager" della Banca d'Africa, sede della Repubblica di Bamako Mali.
• Suha Arafat, moglie del defunto ex leader palestinese Yasser Arafat.
• Numerosi industriali, banchieri e usurai occidentali.

È facile capire che questo è solo un tentativo di truffa:

• Il rischio di coinvolgere uno sconosciuto in un affare simile è alto, perché potrebbe compromettere la riservatezza dell'operazione.
• L'invio in rete non è intrinsecamente sicuro, per cui l'inoltro via e-mail non è un veicolo credibile per un affare di questo tipo.
• Gli "inviti" che circolano sono moltissimi, e tutti uguali.
• La letteratura online su questi casi è ricca e documentata.
• L'occasione è troppo bella per essere vera, e il mittente mette pressione alla vittima per concluderla.

Gli effetti per chi cade nella trappola seguono un copione prestabilito: prima vengono chiesti soldi per la parcella del notaio, poi altro denaro per l'avvocato ed infine si viene invitati ad un incontro personale nella loro nazione (di solito la Nigeria, da cui il nome di truffa alla nigeriana, ma spesso anche in paesi terzi come l'Italia.



Milano è un luogo scelto di frequente per la sua vicinanza all'Europa). Arrivati nel luogo dell'appuntamento, possono accadere due cose: o si viene accolti in modo opulento dando al truffato l'impressione della veridicità dell'affare, o si viene direttamente rapinati se le prospettive non sono buone per eventuali guadagni maggiori. In entrambi i casi, i ladri hanno raggiunto il loro scopo...