Ugandan police have been accused of homophobic bias and “extortion” following the brutal murder last month of a gay person who had previously been arrested and victimised by the same police force.
On 11 July, Noah Matthew Kinono, a non-binary gay person, was found lying in a pool of blood in their home in Kampala, the capital. Kinono, 27, had been stabbed several times.
Kinono was one of 16 LGBTIQ people arrested in 2019 after a police raid on Let’s Walk Uganda, a Kampala shelter for LGBTIQ youth. Police initially took them into “protective custody” after a mob surrounded the shelter yelling homophobic slurs. However, those arrested were later subjected to anal examinations by the police. They were charged with “carnal knowledge against the order of nature”, but released after the charges didn’t stick.
