ENTEBBE, Uganda — Uganda’s president has signed a controversial anti-gay bill that has harsh penalties for homosexual sex.

President Yoweri Museveni signed the bill Monday at his official residence in an event witnessed by government officials and journalists.

Government officials clapped after he signed the bill.

The bill calls for first-time offenders to be sentenced to 14 years in jail. It also sets life imprisonment as the maximum penalty for a category of offenses called “aggravated homosexuality,” defined as repeated gay sex between consenting adults as well as acts involving a minor, a disabled person or where one partner is infected with HIV.


The bill is popular in Uganda, but international rights groups have condemned it as draconian in a country where homosexuality is already criminalized.