Ugandan LGBT Rights Volunteer Beheaded in Brutal Murder

When I hear the name of the country Uganda, I have vivid memories of Idi Amin, the brutal dictator who ruled that African nation for many years.  I also think of the draconian laws against LGBT people in that country especially a draft of a new law that makes even knowing the whereabouts of homosexuals a crime.  Not a happy place.

That impression was strengthened when I saw the horrifying news in the Box Turtle Bulletin blog about the murder and beheading of a gay rights activist there.  Pasikali Kashusbe who volunteered for Integrity Uganda, a pro-LGBT organization founded by an Anglican Bishop, Christopher Senyonjo. 

Here are some of the details published in a release on the Anglican, Changing Attitude blog, they are not pretty.

Judith Nabakooba, a police spokesperson, identified the head as that of Pasikali Kashusbe, one of the workers on Kigggundu’s farm and a member of Integrity Uganda. Pasikali and his partner Abbey are youth workers with Integrity Uganda charged with the responsibility of mobilising young LGBT people in activities which build community capacity to face up to the challenge of homophobia, especially in the area of attitude change and care through drama and sports activities.

According to the police, a mutilated torso which was earlier in the week discovered in Kabuuma Zone, about half a kilometre away from Kiggundu’s farm was probably Pasikali’s The torso was described as belonging to a young man and had no genitals.
Pasikali went missing over three and half weeks ago when the country was celebrating Uganda Martyrs Day. All efforts by his partner Abbey and other family members to find him had been fruitless.

Bishop Christopher Senyonjo, Chairperson of Integrity Uganda lamented the murder of this young man as ‘absurd’ adding that, ‘clearly, the values of tolerance and social inclusion are sadly being sacrificed on the altar of state ignorance, ineptness and good old colonial stupidity’.

 What is worse is that the state owned media is encouraging a "crackdown" on homosexuals.  I put crackdown in quotes because it is in my opinion a code for vigilantism.  One article published a few years ago contained the following inflammatory rhetoric, “The police should visit the holes mentioned in the press, spy on the perverts, arrest and prosecute them”.

Obviously, some people in Uganda have decided to take the law in their own hands.