By Spy Uganda
Makindye court has released Pearl FM Presenter Kisembo Abubaker Saidi on bail after spending two weeks on remand, awaiting trial on charges of engaging in and promoting homosexuality.
Kisembo, a senior journalist who joined the field in 2001, his career started staggering early last month when he was arrested, tortured and later suspended from work, accusing him of holding a talk show on the state of Human Rights in the country amidst media reports of increased homosexuality in institutions of learning in the country.
Prosecution alleges that Kisembo held a talk show on July 4, where he hosted, a one Kigozi Moses, a renowned Human Rights activist under the guise of analyzing the state of Human Rights in Uganda, where several LGBTQ recordings were played tantamounting to abetting homosexuality and unnatural acts.
The prosecution also alleges that while in custody and during a police search of his home in Makindye, they got credible and incriminating evidence again him ,which, according to police, Abubaker was all along a homosexual, contrary to section 145 under the Ugandan Penal Code Act.
It all started when the country was engulfed with reports of increased homosexuality in tertiary institutions. As a senior journalist, he took a step to investigate it, which was found to be true.
The above triggered Kisembo to host a talk show on the above and hosted one of the top activists, Moses Kigozi to analyze the same, where several LGBTQ recordings were played during the show.
The program attracted the Uganda Communications Commission’s (UCC) attention and ordered the suspension of Kisembo and all his programs were shut. Indeed, the Station’s Managing Director had no option but to abide, consequently, Kisembo was suspended on July 6, 2022, for two weeks.
Later on July 20, Kisembo returned from the suspension only to reach the station and was informed that he would not present any program. Kisembo was later sent into sales department to do marketing. Hours later, on the same day, police raided the station and arrested Kisembo without any clear charges or even an arrest warrant. During the arrest, Kisembo was reportedly beaten, kicked, handcuffed, before being thrown into a waiting police van and whisked away to unknown custody, where he reportedly detained for several days. While there, sources claim Kisembo faced all forms of torture that saw him lose one of his teeth, cheeks burnt with unknown liquid among other inhumane treatment.
During this torture, Kisembo was asked to reveal his funders, his colleagues in the vice, and where he gets the motivation.
Meanwhile, after all the above, Kisembo on July 23, was taken to his home in Makindye, a Kampala City suburb for a search, where materials like lubricants, materials related to activism, and a laptop were taken by the security personnel.
One week after the home search, on July 27, Kisembo was arraigned before Makindye court and charged under section 145 (unnatural Act) under the Ugandan Penal Code Act and remanded to Prison for two weeks. Kisembo was released on a non cash bail of shs 2m on grounds that he had been tortured during detention and needed urgent medical attention.
Uganda is one of the 36 countries in Africa where homosexuality is illegal and one of the eight, globally, where Human Rights Watch has compiled evidence of the use of forced anal examinations to “prove” homosexuality acts. In fact, to Ugandans.
