BY CELINE LUM
A frontline gay rights defender in Cameroon has disclosed that those practicing same-sex relations have themselves to blame if arrested by security operatives. According to the gay rights defender, Barrister Alice Akom, for the past years homosexuals and lesbians have seen themselves jailed, which, according to her, is wrong because homosexuality is a human right.
“Those who find pleasure in the practice, their human rights must be respected,” she said.
Criminalising homosexuality, she said is bad law, thus repugnant to natural justice equity and good conscience. The gay rights defender disclosed that in July 2013, a prominent Cameroonian gay rights activist and Journalist, Eric Lembembe’s neck and feet appeared to have been broken and his face, hands and feet burned with and electric iron.
In 2017, Barrister Alice Nkom, who has been fighting for the rights of Hhomosexuals and lesbians said “I accuse the state, if there had not been criminalisation of homosexuality, he would not have gone to prison and his life would not be over. His life was finished as soon as he went to prison”, quoting the case of Eric Lembembe, who died under heartbreaking circumstances in prison.
This was the case in May 2005 where 11 men were arrested at a nightclub in Yaounde on suspicion of sodomy, and the government threatened to conduct examination to prove their homosexual activity. Many other alleged homosexuals have been arrested and detained under section 347-1 of the Penal Code.
Jean Claude Roger Mbede was equally arrested by security forces for sending love messages to male acquaintances, and sentenced to three years imprisonment at the Kondengui Central Prison in Yaounde. The sentence was protested by international human rights organisations including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, who termed him a prisoner of conscience. Mbede later died in prison, without any medical treatment.
In November 2011, a Cameroonian court convicted two young men, Jonas Kamie and Frank Ndome, who had been arrested for homosexuality outside a nightclub in Yaoundé, based solely on their appearance and behaviour. They were sentenced to five years imprisonment.
In 2021, a Cameroon court in the economic capital, Douala, slammed a five-year jail term and a fine of 200,000 FCFA, and a cost of 29,300 CFCA to two men, Njueukomloic Midrel aka Shakiro and Mouthe Roland aka Patricia, guilty of attempted homosexual practice.
Following the Douala incident, leading to the jailing of these two men by the Bonanjo Court of First Instance for same sex practice, the government is bent on stopping this “indecent practice” by clamping down on many Cameroonians involved in these same sex relations.
Government has given firm instructions to security operatives to bring all alleged homosexuals and lesbians to book and to give a deaf ear to gay rights defenders.
One of such glaring example is that of 28-year-old Taban Larisa Dinnyuy. This holder of a Master’s degree in Human Resource of Anglophone extraction is being persecuted in Cameroon because of her sexual orientation. Reports say government has launched a manhunt for her and subsequent trial since December 2022. According to police investigation, they had stormed a popular gay nightclub in Douala in June 2022 at about 11p.m and arrested everybody including Taban Larisa.
The arrested were whisked to the police station and which the police discovered from Taban Larisa’s phone that she is a frontline lesbian due to her numerous homosexual activities.
THE SUN gathered that, Taban Larisa and others were subjugated to inhumane treatment while in detention for about two days before she was presented to the Commissioner of Police for further interrogation and clarifications about her homosexual activities. Reports say more damaging evidence about her homosexual activities were uncovered in her phone and the police Commissioner had no other option than to present her to the state prosecutor for further grilling.
At the State Prosecutor’s Chambers, reports say Taban Larisa was presented pictures of one of her homosexual partner, Awah Melvie, wherein they were seriously kissing.
THE SUN gathered that thanks to the intervention of Taban Larisa Dinnyuy’s family lawyer, she was released on bail on condition that she was supposed to appear before the state Prosecutor after every two weeks.
As Taban Larisa was being grilled by the State Prosecutor, news went viral that another homosexual, Leo Atanga, was lynched by a mob. This incident caused anic in Taban Larisa to panic and she decided to relocate to Yaounde to meet her cousin, Kiven Franklin, who caused her to go for medical attention. Reports say for fear of the unknown following what happened to Leo Atanga, Taban Larisa’s mother made arrangements for her to leave the country to where homosexuality is a human right. Family sources, at press time, said the police were making impromptu patrols in their neighbourhood to arrest Taban Larisa Dinnyuy.
It should be recalled that the office of the Human Rights Activist who defend the rights of homosexuals and lesbians, Barrister Alice Nkom, has been ransacked by unknown assailants. Most homosexuals believe their lives are constantly in danger as they are continuously being persecuted, not only by security operatives but also the public.
Barrister Atoh Walters Tchemi, a Kumba-based legal practitioner and head of the Time Law Firm, a gay rights activist, was recently attacked, molested and tortured by unknown individuals for defending a homosexual, Fonya Cornelius, who unfortunately was jailed by the Limbe Court of First Instance.
According to Human Rights Watch, at least 28 people in Cameroon have been charged under the country’s anti-gay laws in the past three years-more than many any other African nation.
It should be noted that homosexuality is illegal and criminalised in Cameroon and culprits can be punished with jail terms ranging from 06 ( six) months to 5 (five) years, and a fine from FCFA 20.000 to FCFA 200.000 according to section 347-1 of Law N0.2016/007of 12, July 2016 of the Panel Code. Law N0. 2010/012 of 21 December 2010 on Cyber Crime and Cyber Criminality, in its section 83 -1 criminalises online same sex sexual proposition to a person of their sex through electronic communication. Any person(s) found guilty shall be punished with imprisonment of one to two years and a fined of FCFA 500,000 to FCFA 1,000,000.