Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato has been beaten to death his lawyer said today Thursday.
The safety of Kato came under threat last year when his name and picture was published in Uganda’s Rolling Stone magazine last year.
The story included a list of “top 100 homosexuals” along with a headline that read ‘Hang them’.
Kato talked to CNN about his fears after the list had been published.
He said: “The villagers want to set my house ablaze. They want to burn my house … (they say) can you go away before my house is burned.”
Witnesses told the BBC that a man had entered Kato’s home and beaten him to death.
Kato’s attorney John Onyango said that Kato’s money and some clothes were missing after the attack.
Homosexuality in Uganda is not accepted by the state, and is punishable by 14 years in prison.
The government tried to introduce the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in 2009, which would lead to the death penalty for anyone with previous convictions, are HIV-positive, or engage in same sex acts with people under 18 years of age; but after a storm of international protests, an investigations committee recommended withdrawing it.
Kato campaigned against the bill.
Police is saying that they still are investigating Kato’s murder and that it’s still unclear if his murder can be linked to the anti-gay story that ran in Rolling Stone.
Maria Burnett, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch said: “David Kato’s death is a tragic loss to the human rights community. David had faced the increased threats to Ugandan LGBT (lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender) people bravely and will be sorely missed”.
