David Cecil British producer David Cecil has been released from a Ugandan jail, but could still face up to two years in prison for staging a play about a gay man in the conservative African nation. Cecil was arrested Thursday on charges of “disobedience of lawful orders” from the Uganda Media Council which accuses him of staging the play The River and the Mountain in Kampala at least twice after he was sent notice to suspend performances. The play centres on a young gay man who is killed by his employees after coming out. According to the Ugandan Daily Monitor newspaper, the Uganda Media Council said in court documents the play was found to be “obnoxious” with “violence towards persons of homosexual behaviour and indeed implicitly promotes a deification of such persons.” Cecil, who lives in Kampala with his family and runs a small bar and theatre, has been released from jail after appearing in court and pleading not guilty, but his passport has been confiscated. He will be back in court next month. “When I spoke to him today as he was getting released, physically he was okay, but I think psychologically he was a bit tortured,” friend and Ugandan civil rights lawyer Godwin Buwa told ABC News. “His case is becoming quite delicate in the public and the authorities will see him as a promoter of homosexuality in Uganda, which of course is a ridiculous thought,” he added.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 18th September 2012 - 3:50pm