BY CYNTHIA AKUM
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 Nkom, for the past years homosexuals and lesbians have seen themselves thrown behind bars and 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 hinted.
In November 2011, a Cameroonian court convicted two young men Jonas Kamie and Frank Ndome, who had been arrested for same sex activity outside a night club in Yaounde, based solely on their appearance and behavior. They were consequently sentenced to five years imprisonment.
Criminalising homosexuality, Barrister Nkom says, is bad law, thus repugnant to natural justice equity and good conscience. The gay rights defender disclosed that in July 2013, a prominent gay rights activist and journalist, Eric Lembembe was found dead in his home. His neck and feet appeared to have been broken and his face, hands and feet burned with iron, Human Rights Watch said.
In 2017, Barrister Alice Nkom, who has been fighting for the rights of homosexuals and lesbians said “I accused the state that if there had not been criminalisation of homosexuality, Lembembe would not have gone to prison and his life wouldn’t be over. His life was finished as soon as he went to prison”, and died under heartbreaking circumstances.
In 2021, a Cameroonian court in the economic capital, Douala, slammed a five-year jail term and a fine of FCFA 200,000 and a cost of FCFA 29,300 FCFA on two men, Njueukomloic Midrel aka Shakiro and Mouthe Roland aka Patricia, guilty of attempted homosexuality practice.
Following the Douala incident, the government immediately gave firm instructions to security operatives to crack down all homosexuals and lesbians.
One of the homosexuals listed for arrest and persecution is 19-year-old Enang Joel Ambani. Reports from Bamenda, North West Region of Cameroon, say Enang Joel Ambani, who developed love for same sex relationship from his school days, is under security searchlight since July 2023 due to his same sex relationship with Aku Sheldine Mbeh.
He started exchanging secretive love messages with Aku Sheldine, until the secret got to the hearing of his cousin. THE SUN gathered that Enang’s parents were informed about the amorous relationship between him and Aku and insisted that he needs deliverance since it’s a taboo in their community.
Unfortunately for them, the police had a tipoff about the same sex relationship between Enang and Aku and immediately arrested them and whisked them off to their station. Enang Joel Ambani was molested, tortured, detained under deplorable and inhumane conditions and even restricted any visit to him from friends and family relations.
Enang, according to family sources, was granted bail thanks to intervention from his family, lawyers while the matter was pending before the State Prosecutor’s Chambers for thorough investigation.
For fear of the unknown, taking into consideration that Enang Joel Ambani could be killed either by the government or an angry mob as gays and lesbians are seen as outcast, his family, though against his sexual preference, decided to cause him leave the country.
As we went to press, security operatives had already declared Enang Joel Ambani wanted and there were constant reports of security operative’s impromptu checks to apprehend him around their Bamenda neighbourhood and Mbanga, where he relocated to meet his friend after he was granted bail by the police in Bamenda.
It should be recalled that a prominent human rights lawyer and a gay rights activist, Barrister Atoh Walter Tchemi, a Kumba-based legal practitioner and head of The Time Law Firm, was recently attacked, molested and tortured by unidentified 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 38 people in Cameroon have been charged under the country’s anti-gay laws in the past three years-more than any other African nation.
Homosexuality is illegal and criminalised in Cameroon. Culprits can be punished with jail terms ranging from 06 (six) months to 05 (five) years and a fine of from FCFA 20,000 to FCFA 200,000, according to section 347-1 of Law No. 2016/007 of 12 July 2016 of the Penal Code and Law No.2010/012 of 21 December 2010 on cyber crime and cyber criminality in its section 83-1 which criminalises online same sex proposition to a person of their sex through electronic communication with an imprisonment of one to two years and a fine of FCFA 500,000 to FCFA 1,000,000.
It should be noted that on June 19, 2023 the government of Cameroon, through its Minister of External Relations, Le Jeune Mbella Mbella, sent a Ministerial Decree No. 1622/DIPL/D2/D5/SDPCD/SIE of 19 June 2023 to the Minister of Territorial Administration, Atanga Nji Paul, expressing his disapproval of the visit of Jean Marc Berthon, French Ambassador in charge of the Rights of LGBT to Cameroon that was scheduled for June 27 to July 1, 2023.