A gay rights activist who sued a newspaper last year for “outing” him, has been found murdered in Uganda.

David Kato was found beaten to death, police have confirmed, adding that they are investigating.

The Rolling Stone newspaper had published pictures of several Ugandans, including Kato, whom it described as homosexual, accompanied by a headline which stated Hang them.” Kato has apparently been receiving death threats since the publication.

In Uganda, homosexual acts are against the law, punishable by up to fourteen years in prison. In October 2009, an MP named David Bahati proposed the death penalty for those having gay sex with disabled people, under-18s or when the accused is HIV-positive.

Kato had been a leading campaigner against the government’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

Kato lived in the Mukono district, on the eastern outskirts of the capital city of Kampala, where people have recently been assaulted and on killed with metal bars.

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