A leading Ugandan gay rights and HIV/AIDS activist was tortured and found covered with bruises in the capital city of Kampala on July 26, Afrol News reports (aegis.org/news 7/28). Usaam Auf Mukwaya had been last seen on July 25.

Mukwaya was among three activists arrested at an HIV/AIDS Implementer’s Meeting last month for protesting anti-gay statements made by the head of Uganda’s AIDS Commission.

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission petitioned the Ugandan government to condemn the “illegal detention and torture of Mukwaya.”

“These actions by the police are a violation of numerous human rights promised to the people of Uganda under the African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights and other international treaties to which your country is a signatory,” the petition says.