Demonstration Against Ugandan Human Rights Abuse, London 9 Oct, 2008

Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda and the penalty can be imprisonment for life, and gay rights campaigners have been imprisoned and subjected to torture. The Ugandan Anglican church is a leading force in anti-gay campaigns.

Organisations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty have documented the government's use of torture and intimidation, and the LGBT community is excluded from healthcare.

British arms sold to Uganda include armoured vehicles from companies owned by BAE Systems which have been used against civilians, killing at least three demonstrators. Because of these abuses, many Ugandans seek asylum in the UK.

One of the more disturbing speeches at the event was by Emma Ginn of Medical Justice. A report by Birnberg Peirce & Partners, Medical Justice and NCADC ( http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/411/88/) published in July 2008 catalogued the appalling abuses against people being forcibly deported by the private "escorts" employed by the Home Office. From the report it is obvious that our the Home Office deliberately turns a blind eye to the shocking and inhuman treatment, refusing to make proper investigations into well-substantiated cases of extreme abuse.

Ugandan asylum seekers are also the most frequently assaulted by police and immigration escorts when they come here and are detained at Heathrow and taken to immigration removal centres such as Harmondsworth. Many of asylum seekers are then "fast-tracked", resulting in 99% being turned down without real investigation or proper consideration. Six Harmondsworth detainees have committed suicide rather than be deported.

During the protest the 2008 Sappho in Paradise book prize, awarded by the International Lesbian and Gay Cultural Network was presented to Kizza Musinguzi, editor of the gayrightsuganda.org web site for their work in supplying information within Uganda and about the human rights situation there to the world. He was was jailed by the Ugandan government for his work in 2004, and subjected to four months of forced labour, water torture, beatings and rape. In 2005 he fled to the UK and claimed asylum - and was detained at Harmondsworth. The Home Office claimed that his treatment in Uganda was not persecution and that he was not a legitimate asylum seeker and wanted to deport him back to Uganda.

Whilst in detention at Harmondsworth he was racially and homophobically abused by staff and denied medical treatment that he needed. His asylum papers were confiscated and he was fast-tracked for deportation. He appealed to Peter Tatchell of Outrage! for help, appointing him as his legal representative. The authorities at Harmondsworth refused to accept Tatchell as his representative or his claim for asylum. Tatchell wrote a long and detailed letter about the case to Home Office minister Tony McNulty MP, sending a copy to Harmondsworth Labour MP John McDonnell. McDonnell's intervention stopped the deportation as Musinguze was being put on a plane at Heathrow in September 2005. It was the start of a three year fight to gain refugee status.

Other speakers at the protest included Peter Tatchell of Outrage!, Lucy Brookes of the National Union of Students, and Davis Makyala of Changing Attitudes.

More pictures on My London Diary  http://mylondondiary.co.uk shortly when I catch up with things.