Uganda moves to deport British theatre producer David Cecil

Rachel Adams in Kampala
The Guardian, Thursday 7 February 2013 16.41 GMT

David Cecil, the British theatre producer arrested in Uganda in 2012 for staging a play with a homosexual protagonist, is being held in police custody after being threatened with deportation.

Immigration officers took Cecil from his home in the outskirts of the capital, Kampala, on Thursday to Jinja Road police station, where he is being held. Fridah Mutesi, a human rights lawyer in Uganda, said the government did not disclose the grounds on which Cecil was being deported, but that it had the power to deport individuals deemed "undesirable".

In January Cecil was charged with disobeying lawful orders by the Uganda media council, which said he had staged The River and The Mountain despite being told not to. The case was dismissed owing to a lack of evidence. It is believed that the deportation order is a result of his staging the play, which Cecil has described as a "comedy drama about a gay businessman killed by his employees". The producer's lawyer, Godwin Buwa, said the government was unhappy about Cecil's court case last month being dismissed.

Cecil, who has a partner and young family in Kampala, said he would appeal against the deportation order, either from Uganda or from the UK. He said the arrest was "political, not legal".

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