Stella Nyanzi has just served her sentence in Luzira Prison after writing a poem about President Museveni’s mother’s Vagina in opposition to his 35-year rule.
Today, she penned a moving post on her Facebook in support of the LGBTi groups, a topic so controversial in Uganda, the 'vice' is punishable by law.
In her notes, she is seen advocating for the freedom of one, Swabullah, a transgender who incarcerated for marrying an Imam in Kayunga.
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It was wonderful to reunite with some of my friends in the Ugandan LGBTIQ community. My transgender daughters Keem Love Black and, Princess Marts Rihanna brought several sisters from the trans community. I am always energized in the company of people of the Third Gender.
We spent the bulk of the day at Kayunga Chief Magistrate's Court, attending a mind-boggling criminal case at the intersection of homosexuality, gender identity, religion, and health.
Swabullah (aka Richard Tushabe), a transgender woman and her husband Mohammed Mutumba are both charged with "having carnal knowledge against the order of nature". From prison to court, they were handcuffed together.
How symbolic! They were married in a colorful Muslim wedding by an oblivious Imam in the village, while Swabullah wore a beautiful bridal gown. She effectively passed as a woman.
Later, when Swabullah was arrested for charges of theft, the policewoman searched his body. He was shocked to discover that he was biologically male.
He was then transferred from the female cells to the congested male cells.
Accusations of homosexuality and condemnation of 'pretending to be what she is not' started.
The couple, detained at Ntenjeru Prisons were variously humiliated in the local press and on social media. Swabullah fell seriously ill during detention. Although both were given bail, Swabullah wasn't released because she is also in remand detention for the charges of theft.
The general lack of understanding of transgender issues in Uganda was sadly on display in the courtroom. Swabullah was repeatedly misgendered and addressed as a man. Court users continually referred to her as a man.
When they tried hard, they referred to her as 'he-she'. She was kept in cells for men. Her confidential sexual health details were insensitively discussed in the public court as people jeered and mocked him.
And so, it was great to provide support and understanding alongside several transgender sisters who came to court in solidarity with Swabullah. If anyone is interested in supporting Swabullah's recovery, please contact Rihanna Martins who is the co-ordinator for LGBTIQ people detained in Uganda's prisons.
While serving her 15 months in the despicable Luzira prison, the Ugandan academic, writer, and feminist activist Dr. Stella Nyanzi, was awarded the Oxfam Novib/PEN International award for freedom of expression for her poem, ‘You can’t handcuff my spirit.’
In 2017, she spent 33 days in prison for a Facebook post in which she described Museveni as a “pair of buttocks”. This was after the president backtracked on a pledge to distribute sanitary towels to schoolgirls.
According to The Guardian; At the award ceremony, held during the opening of the Writers Unlimited festival in The Hague, an empty chair was used to symbolize the absence of Nyanzi.
“For her, writing is a permanent form of resistance in front of a regime that is trying to suppress her,” said Carles Torner, director of PEN International.
In an acceptance speech smuggled out of prison, Nyanzi wrote: “Unlawful laws are used in unjust courts to punish citizens whose only crime is exercising their constitutional freedom to write boldly about the dictatorship.”
She added: “My custodial sentence in a maximum-security prison highlights how fearful this dictator and his cronies are of writers. Isn’t the pen, indeed, mightier than the sword?”
Nyanzi recounted using handcuffs while in solitary confinement to scratch words into the prison walls, including: “You can handcuff my body but you can never handcuff my spirit – Stella Nyanzi.”
She has also spoken in the past about using lipstick secretly given to her by other prisoners to write freedom notes on walls while in solitary confinement, a testament that she is truly an advocate for the voiceless.
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