Ugandan police arrest 20 people at Gay Pride event in Kampala

Ugandan police have arrested around 20 people after raiding an LGBT fashion party in the capital Kampala. People alleged they were harassed by security forces, who forcibly took pictures of the participants to "shame them to their friends and family", the BBC reported.

Police said they had received information people were celebrating weddings at the club, which was subsequently closed. The Mr and Miss Pride event was part of Uganda's Gay Pride Week.

Among those arrested was leading LGBT activist and 2014 Nobel Peace Prize nominee Frank Mugisha, who co-organised the event.

Gay rights in Uganda

Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda. Under existing law, anyone found guilty of "carnal knowledge against the order of nature" can already face up to life imprisonment.

The country is trying to implement an anti-gay bill that was first put forward by MP David Bahati in 2009. It originally proposed a death sentence for homosexuals.

The proposed legislation, which was later amended, condemned gay Ugandans to life imprisonment. It was dropped two years later, after the murder of David Kato sparked international outcry.

It was only in August 2014 that Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni signed the bill into law prompting many countries to condemn its decision to criminalise homosexuality.

Shortly after, however, the law was annulled by the country's constitutional court on the grounds that the parliament had passed it without the required quorum.

In an exclusive interview with IBTimes UK, Mugisha, executive director of Uganda's umbrella organisation Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), warned the proposed legislation would also punish anyone suspected of promoting homosexuality, including landlords in whose properties "unnatural sexual practices" occur.