Reprieve for Cameroonian Gay Asylum Seeker?

A gay Cameroonian man denied asylum in the U.K. has not been removed from the country despite a scheduled weekend deportation, LGBT Asylum News reported Saturday.

Joseph Kuate, who fled the African nation last year after he was arrested and beaten, was expected to be deported on a Saturday Air France flight after his asylum claim was rejected by the U.K. Border Agency. It's unclear what the current status is regarding Kuate's deportation: The National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns relayed via Twitter that further details in the case are forthcoming.

Homosexuality is illegal in Cameroon and punishable by five years imprisonment, according to the International Lesbian and Gay Association. Although arrests of gay people in the country are widely reported, Cameroon's communications minister, Issa Tchiroma, said during a 2010 appearance on the BBC's Network Africa, "What I can emphasize is the fact that no homosexual is persecuted in Cameroon."

A Friday report on Kuate's situation, via LGBT Asylum News:

"Joseph Kuate is a homosexual asylum seeker from Cameroon. He is going to be removed tomorrow (Saturday 6 August), at 7.35am on flight AF1081 Heathrow to Charles de Gaul and then AF900 Charles de Gaul to Yaounde. There is still time to make a difference if we act urgently. We have decided to focus on Air France, the airline being used to transport Joseph to Cameroon, via Paris. In the last week two Air France pilots have refused to fly deportees from the UK. This is encouraging. Contacting the captains is the best chance we have of stopping Joseph's imminent removal."

Click here for more information on the ongoing action alert regarding Kuate.