Five men, one as young as 16, were tortured with an anal probe test after being arrested by Uganda cops.

That’s according to activists who investigated the arrests in Pader district, northern Uganda, which GSN first reported yesterday.

Adrian Jjuuko, executive director of Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum Uganda (HRAPF), said:

‘The background to the case is that one of the arrested persons, the now 18-year-old (who was a minor at the time the case was first reported) was arrested on 10 October 2013 for attempted suicide.

‘When asked about the reasons for attempting suicide, he stated that his employer with whom he had been staying had started acting violent towards him. That they had been living together for sometime as “husband and wife” but he had turned violent after he had accused him of stealing his money.

‘That is why he attempted to take his life by stabbing himself.

‘The police did not arrest the employer at that point. On or around 25 June 2014 he once again stabbed himself and he was arrested by the police. He repeated the story and that is when the police arrested the other four.’

The other four, he reports, are the 34-year-old businessman himself, a 16-year-old student who stays with the businessman, and two other men, one 21 and the other 30.

The activists also report the group were subjected to anal examinations. This way of finding out if someone is homosexual has been discredited by scientists and is considered a form of torture, forbidden under international law.

The tests were, apparently, ‘inconclusive’.

They were not charged, although police did take statements from them.

Jjuuko adds: ‘The file was forwarded to the Resident State Attorney who did not advise on any charge but instead sent the file back to the police commenting that there was no evidence of any offence related to homosexuality.

‘The police released all the persons who had been arrested on Police Bond. The file however remains open and “investigations” are ongoing.’

The Daily Monitor which first reported the story had claimed the men were accused of ‘promoting’ homosexuality and ‘recruiting’ people to be gay in schools.

But the headmaster of the school denies this, it is now understood, and the police no longer seem to be claiming it and have apparently not charged anyone with that offense.