Ugandan President Joveri Museveni has refused to sign a controversial new anti-homosexuality law that carries the death penalty in some cases, and is calling for it to be amended to allow those who repent and "return to normal lives" to be rehabilitated.
Musevni's decision was announced late last night after he met with his party's MPs, and almost all of them preliminarily protested the law, passed by parliament last month.
At the meeting, it was decided to return the law to parliament "with proposals for its improvement", according to the government announcement.
At a meeting in Kampala, Museveni condemned homosexuality, saying "Europe has executed itself".
"And that's why they are asking for us to be executed," said Musevni, as shown in a video broadcast on UBC state television.
Musevni praised the MPs for passing the law, which was met with international condemnation.
"I congratulate you for taking such a firm stand," he said in the released video. "It's good that you rejected the pressure of the imperialists. And this is what I tell them. Whenever they come to me, I tell them: 'Shut up.'
The president's spokesman said that Musevni was not opposed to the severe proposed punishments, but wanted the MPs to pay attention to the "issue of rehabilitation".
Musevni told the MPs that he has no objections to punishments, but rather to the issue of rehabilitation of persons who engaged in homosexual relations in the past, but would like to live normal lives again, the spokesman reported.
"It has been agreed that the law will be returned to parliament, to refine the issue of rehabilitation, before it is signed and comes into force," spokesman Sandor Walusimbi said on Twitter.
Homosexuality is already illegal in Uganda, an east African country, under a colonial-era law that bans sexual acts "against nature". The penalty for violating it is life imprisonment.
Musevni is under pressure from the international community not to sign the law, and the US has warned Uganda of economic consequences if the law goes into effect.
The law, however, enjoys widespread support in Uganda, including church circles and others who have called for the draconian new law to be passed.
It was proposed by an opposition lawmaker with the aim, he said, of punishing the "promotion, recruitment and financing" of LGBTQ activities in the country.
Out of 389 members of the Ugandan parliament, only two were against.
It introduces the death penalty for the crime of "homosexuality of a higher degree", and life imprisonment for "homosexuality".
By "homosexuality of a higher degree" is meant sexual relations committed by persons infected with HIV, or with minors and other categories of vulnerable people.
A sentence of up to 20 years in prison has been introduced for those who defend or promote the rights of LGBTQ people.
Anyone who "attempts homosexuality of a higher degree" will be punished with up to 14 years in prison, while "attempted homosexuality" is punished with up to 10 years in prison.
Homosexuality is criminalized in more than 30 countries on the 54-nation African continent.
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