A UGANDAN court has invalidated an anti-gay bill signed into law earlier this year, saying it was illegally passed and that it is therefore unconstitutional.
The panel of five judges on the East African country's Constitutional Court said the speaker of parliament acted illegally when she went ahead to allow a vote on the measure.
The ruling was made before a courtroom packed with Ugandans opposing or supporting the measure. Activists erupted in loud cheers after the court ruled the law was "null and void".
Ugandan lawyer Ladislaus Rwakafuuzi, for the activists, said the ruling "upholds the rule of law and constitutionalism in Uganda".
Kosiya Kasibayo, a state attorney, said a decision had not been made on whether to appeal the ruling invalidating the law in the Supreme Court.
The anti-gay measure provided for jail terms of up to life for those convicted of engaging in gay sex. It also allowed lengthy jail terms for those convicted of "attempted homosexuality" or the "promotion of homosexuality".
Although the legislation has wide support in Uganda, it has been condemned in the West as draconian.
The law was passed in December and enacted in February by Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni who said he wanted to deter Western groups from promoting homosexuality among African children.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article