Gay rights activist Kato beaten to death in Uganda
President Obama ‘deeply saddened’ by murder, as Ugandan police claim motive was robbery
A Ugandan gay rights campaigner who sued a newspaper that printed his picture under a headline calling for homosexuals to be executed has been found beaten to death at his home. Police claim that David Kato was killed in a robbery, but gay rights campaigners believe he may have been the victim of a homophobic attack.
Kato hit the headlines in October last year when Uganda's Rolling Stone newspaper published photographs of several people it said were gay, including Kato, alongside the headline "hang them".
US president Barack Obama said he was "deeply saddened" to hear of Kato's death. Last year he described attempts by a Ugandan MP to introduce the death penalty for homosexual acts in the African country as "odious".
Being gay is already illegal in Uganda, but in the MP’s view the current maximum penalty of 14 years' jail was not enough.
The bill was eventually dropped but there are concerns that it could be resurrected if the president, Yoweri Museveni, wins a fourth term in office net month.
Kato was known for his work with gay rights group Sexual Minorities Uganda and other campaigners fear that he was killed because of his sexual orientation.
One of his colleagues, Pepe Julian Onziema, said: "David had faced so many threats in his area that he didn't feel safe anymore. I don't know if the police are aware but they should investigate that before ruling out homophobia. He was too frightened to leave his house."
Peter Tatchell, the British gay rights campaigner, said he hoped that the killing would "prompt Uganda's political, religious and media leaders to cease their homophobic witch-hunts".
Meanwhile, still maintaining Kato was a robbery victim, Ugandan authorities have arrested one suspect and are searching for another man who Kato is believed to have bailed out of prison earlier in the week. The second man remains on the run. ·
