UGANDA: Government Bans Pornography, Miniskirts, And Photos Of Kissing Couples

Continuing his crackdown on all civil liberties, today Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed a bill that makes it a criminal offense to possess pornography and for women to dress in a manner that "excites sexual cravings" in men. The signing, which was was announced by Minister for Ethics & Integrity Simon Lokodo [photo], effectively means that most foreign television shows and movies are now banned in Uganda.

According to the law, pornography means “any representation through publication, exhibition, cinematography, indecent show, information technology or by whatever means, of a person engaged in real or stimulated explicit sexual activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a person for primary sexual excitement.” Minister Lokodo also identified sex tease shows commonly known as bimansulo, videos or photos depicting child sex, and musicians, especially female artistes, who perform in very revealing short dresses, as the other banned acts. “We do not like you to behave in a way that draws the attention of other people. Be decent and let your cloth show you as a decent person,” Lokodo said. Asked to draw precise indecency lines, the minister said: “If you are dressed in something that irritates the mind and excites other people especially of the opposite sex, you are dressed in wrong attire and please hurry up and change”.

The law also bans the media from publishing photos of kissing couples. Read the full bill. Uganda is a predominantly Christian nation with 85% of the population so identifying.

RELATED: Two years ago this week Lokodo ordered a police raid on a Ugandan LGBT rights group.  Lokodo is a former Catholic priest who was defrocked in 2011 when he disobeyed Vatican orders to drop his pursuit of political office.

Supreme Court Strikes Down Illinois Law Against Filming The Police

The Supreme Court yesterday declined to hear the appeal of a lower court's ruling that overturned an Illinois law against filming the police.

The justices on Monday left in place a lower court ruling that found that the state’s anti-eavesdropping law violates free speech rights when used against people who tape law enforcement officers. The law sets out a maximum prison term of 15 years. Opponents of the law say the right to record police is vital to guard against abuses. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in 2010 against [Cook County State’s Attorney Anita] Alvarez to block prosecution of ACLU staff for recording police officers performing their duties in public places. It’s one of the group’s long-standing monitoring missions.

The ACLU of Illinois issued a statement:

“The ACLU of Illinois continues to believe that in order to make the rights of free expression and petition effective, individuals and organizations must be able to freely gather and record information about the conduct of government and their agents—especially the police. The advent and widespread accessibility of new technologies make the recording and dissemination of pictures and sound inexpensive, efficient and easy to accomplish.”

RELATED: Earlier this year the NYPD created a wanted poster that featured the photos and home address of a Harlem couple that had been filming them during the infamous "stop-and-frisk" operations.