News
2006-04-22
Cameroon releases
nine men jailed for being gay
The International
Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission helped broker
detainees' freedom.
The West
The West African
nation of Cameroon on Friday relented to pressure
from human rights groups and released nine men
imprisoned for a year because they were gay.
The freed men
were part of a larger group of 17 men arrested in May
2005 at a Cameroonian nightclub believed to be popular with
gays and lesbians. Eleven men remained
detained—held on suspicion of sodomy—who
were too impoverished to hire a lawyer or find a way to be
released. On March 17 two more men were released for
lack of evidence—along with pressure from human
rights groups, including the International Gay and
Lesbian Human Rights Commission—and the trial was
scheduled for April 21. When the judge found the prosecution
ill-prepared and without witnesses, he acquitted all
nine men of any charges.
"While nothing
can return to these men the year of their lives spend
locked in a cell, we are hopeful that rule of law and
respect for human dignity are reemerging as basic
principles of human rights in Cameroon," said Cary
Alan Johnson, IGLHRC's senior coordinator for Africa.
When IGLHRC was
alerted to the arrest days after it occurred, the
group arranged for a local attorney to take the men's
case, provided assistance to help the men survive the
harsh conditions of their detention, and demanded
their release from Cameroonian and United Nations
officials.
In a
communication to IGLHRC, Cameroon minister of justice Amadou
Ali wrote, "Positive African cultural values are
preserved," adding that "homosexuality is not a value
accepted in the Cameroonian society."
Cameroon has
garnered international attention this year because of its
tabloids routinely outing African and European celebrities
as well as the nation's policy of detaining citizens
on sodomy charges and expelling students for their
sexual orientation. (The Advocate)
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