Uganda police have arrested one man and are looking for another in connection with Wednesday’s brutal murder-by bludgeoning of David Kato, a gay activist and the father of Uganda’s gay rights movement. But police insist the murder was the by-product of a robbery, and not anti-gay hate, and are now pointing fingers at a man staying with Kato as a possible second suspect.
Read: “David Kato’s Death Result Of Hatred Planted By U.S. Evangelicalsâ€
Incredibly, police are not even considering the possibility that this is an anti-gay hate crime, or that it has any connection to the Rolling Stone newspaper’s campaign against homosexuals in Uganda, in which David Kato’s photo was featured in the center of the newspaper’s front page, below the words “national scandal” and “100 pictures of Uganda’s top homos leak.” Above a photo of Kato and one of another man, a banner that read, simply, “hang them.” The front page of that edition also printed violence-inciting lies, “We Shall Recruit 100,000 Innocent Kids by 2012: Homos” and “Parents now face heart-breaks as homos raid schools.”
Ultimately, the paper was ordered to cease publishing these articles, but not after photos, names, and some addresses of twenty-nine suspected gay men and lesbians were published, including Kato’s.
Watch: “Uganda’s ‘Hang The Gays’ Rolling Stone Editor Speaks“
Kato was murdered just twenty-two days after Uganda’s highest court ordered the Rolling Stone newspaper to pay Kato and two other plaintiffs 1.5 million Ugandan shillings each.
Via Reuters:
“Police told a news conference in the capital Kampala that one man, Arnold Senoga, had been arrested in connection with the killing and that they were looking for another man, Nsubuga Enock, who had been staying with Kato after the activist bailed him out of prison on Monday.
“His homosexuality has not come up as an issue in the preliminary investigation,” police spokeswoman, Judith Nabakooba, told Reuters.
“At the moment, we think theft is the most likely motive. Nsubuga Enock, who had been staying with Kato, was well-known for committing robberies and had almost been lynched in the area before.”
“Nabakooba said items were missing from Kato’s home, including a briefcase, and that neighbours had seen Enock leave the house dressed in the activist’s clothes.
“We are now trying to establish what relationship Kato had with Enock, whether or not they were relatives and why Kato posted his bail,” Nabakooba said.”
Apparently, police are trying to make Kato’s murder appear as a lover’s quarrel that ended violently, further demonizing homosexuals, instead of properly investigating the crime.
Reuters also quotes Rolling Stone publisher Giles Muhame saying, “There has been a lot of crime, it may not be because he is gay. We want the government to hang people who promote homosexuality, not for the public to attack them. We said they should be hanged, not stoned or attacked.”
The Guardian quotes Muhame as saying, “I have no regrets about the story. We were just exposing people who were doing wrong.”
Kato’s funeral has already been held.