Groups press
Cameroon over gay detainees
10 Mar 2006- International human rights activists have
intensified pressure on the West African nation of Cameroon to release
eight men and a 17-year-old boy who've been detained for nearly a year
on charges of practicing homosexuality.
Amnesty International called the detainees "prisoners of conscience".
Arrested in May, they have been on trial since late February, and a
verdict is expected March 17, the agency said in a press release. The
organisation said it is mobilising its global membership to petition
Cameroon to release the nine detainees.
"These defendants are being held unjustly solely on the basis of their
alleged sexual orientation, in violation of international human rights
standards," said Michael Heflin, director of OUTFront, Amnesty
International USA's program on LGBT human rights. "Additionally, we fear
that they are in grave danger of being subjected to intrusive medical
examinations that would amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading
treatment."
Late last year, a government prosecutor ordered the detainees to undergo
exams to determine whether they had had anal sex. Several human rights
groups protested the order last December in a letter to Cameroon's
minister of justice, and so far no such exams have taken place. The men
on trial are part of a group of 11 who were arrested in May at a
nightclub for "sodomy" offences. Two members of the group were released
last month.
"The great news is that two of the men have been released," said Paula
Ettelbrick, executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian
Human Rights Commission. "The troublesome news is that a climate of
public homophobia has emerged in Cameroon that causes great concern
about the fate of the remaining detainees."
In an unrelated case, two men were sentenced to one-year prison terms in
Cameroon last week for having sex with each other. "IGLHRC and the
entire human rights community is asking the government of Cameroon to
stop this witch hunt against its citizens," said Cary Alan Johnson, the
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission's senior
specialist for Africa.
Homosexuality is punishable by up to five years in prison, according to
Section 347 of Cameroon's penal code. |
