Uganda drops case against women arrested for kissing in public

Uganda's President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni takes his oath of office for a seventh term during his inauguration ceremony at Kololo Ceremonial grounds in Kampala on May 12, 2026. [AFP]

Ugandan prosecutors said Friday they have thrown out a case against two women arrested for kissing in public under an anti-gay law considered one of the harshest in the world.

Uganda's 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act imposes penalties of up to life imprisonment for consensual same-sex relations, while "aggravated homosexuality" is punishable by death.

The two women, both in their 20s, were arrested in February following a complaint from neighbours in the northwestern city of Arua.

Neighbours took photos of them and they were suspected of "same-sex orgies", local police spokesperson Josephine Angucia told AFP at the time.

"I confirm that the case was withdrawn from court by the DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions)," Irene Nakimbugwe, the deputy spokesperson for the prosecutor's office, told AFP.

Human rights lawyer Frank Mugisha welcomed the decision to throw out the case, but said it "should never have reached this stage".

"Kissing is not a crime, and no one should be persecuted for who they are or who they love. I hope this decision marks the beginning of a wider review of similar cases and that all unjust prosecutions arising from the Anti-Homosexuality Act are dropped," he told AFP, calling for the law to be repealed.

Rights groups say the law is often used for blackmail and extortion of the LGBT community in Uganda, a conservative and predominantly Christian country in east Africa.

The law triggered outrage among rights campaigners and condemnation from the United Nations and Western countries, and the World Bank suspended funding to the country, although this resumed in mid-2025.