Uganda’s former national football manager Chris Mubiru was cleared of sodomy charges today (19 April).

High Court justice Wilson Musene Masalu has ruled the magistrate’s court had acted wrongly when they convicted and sentenced Mubiru to 10 years in prison for the ‘crime’ of having gay sex last year. He was also ordered to pay 50 million Ugandan shillings ($15,000, €13,000).

Mubiru then appealed at the High Court after spending eight months in prison. In Masalu’s judgment, the justice said it was wrong for the ‘victim’ to wait until 2013 to tell the police after the two allegedly had sex in 2009.

In 2012, Red Pepper splashed pornographic pictures across their front page with the headline: ‘SMOKED OUT! Uganda Cranes boss nabbed sodomizing players – Shocking pictures inside.’

The captions were designed to outrage the conservative population, with one saying: ‘MASTER AT WORK: Mubiru nails the boy’s butt.’ Another said ‘END GAME: The boy struggles to stand up after the bum shattering session.’

The alleged ‘young player’ was not identified and the pictures were unable to verified.

Due to the papers selling so well, the gay pornographic Red Pepper issue was reprinted for another two weeks.

During the court case, Mubiru was tortured. He was ‘anally probed’ by a ‘doctor’, who checked for ‘proof’ he had engaged in anal sex and checked for traces of sperm. These tests, popular in Africa and the Middle East, are scientifically nonsensical and human rights organizations have condemned them for being inconclusive, degrading and a form of torture.

Mubiru repeatedly claimed he is not gay, saying: ‘‘I have never, at any one time in my life, committed sodomy acts.’

Edwin Sesange, director of the African LGBTI organization Out and Proud Diamond Group, said: ‘We welcome the ruling and appeal to the people of Uganda to respect the court decision. This is an eye opener and a precedent against anti LGBTI hate, blackmail, persecution, victimization among others in Uganda.

‘It is very unfortunate that Chris Mubiru has spent all those months in incarceration. I would like to thank the High court Judge, his legal team, family, friends plus all those who have done anything to enable him to be a free man.

‘Chris can now live his life even though he might not be same after going through that situation, but believe he will be able to rebuild his life. This case poses a lot of questions to the wider community and leaves a lot to learn.’