Ugandan authorities have reportedly arrested an 8-year-old girl on suspicion of being gay.
According to Evening Standard, police were allegedly holding the girl in custody after she was found kissing her female friends.
Child protection police in the town of Jinja, east of Kampala, said the girl was arrested after a neighbour reported her for having “romantic relationships” with other girls of her age.
The report quoted the Chief Investigating Officer Catherine Wobuyaga as saying that the young girl had admitted the offence.
Rights group, Amnesty International had since called for the girls immediate release.
“The girl should be immediately and unconditionally released if she is still in detention. What she needs is protection and respect for her privacy, and not being treated as a criminal,” Amnesty International was quoted as saying.
Homosexuality is criminalised in Uganda under a colonial-era law proscribing sex acts “against the order of nature”.
In 2014, Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni signed an anti-gay bill that originally had proposed the death penalty against some homosexual acts. A court later jettisoned the law.
