UGANDAN gay rights activists asked the international community to apply more pressure on the government of Uganda to repeal an anti-gay law which the country’s Constitutional Court refused to nullify on Wednesday.

Activist Frank Mugisha said Tuesday’s ruling was “wrong and deplorable.”

“This ruling should result in further restrictions to donor funding for Uganda — no donor should be funding anti-LGBTQ+ hate and human rights violations,” said Mr Mugisha.

The court upheld a law that allows the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality,” and up to 14 years in prison for a suspect convicted of “attempted aggravated homosexuality.” The offence of “attempted homosexuality” is punishable by up to 10 years.

President Yoweri Museveni signed the Anti-Homosexuality Act into law in May last year.

Nicholas Opiyo, a Ugandan human rights advocate who was a petitioner in the case, said: “While we respect the court, we vehemently disagree with its findings and the basis on which it was reached. We approached the court expecting it to apply the law in defence of human rights and not rely on public sentiments, and vague cultural values arguments.

Homosexuality was already illegal in Uganda under a colonial-era law criminalising sexual activity “against the order of nature.”

The punishment for that offence is life imprisonment.