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| Homosexuality is banned in many African countries |
Three men
in Cameroon have been sentenced to five years in prison for homosexual acts,
which are illegal in the central African nation.
Two of the
accused were in court in the capital, Yaounde, but a third man was sentenced in
absentia as he had jumped bail.
Police said
the men were arrested for having oral sex in a car.
"It's
a shocking and unacceptable decision," Cameroonian lawyer and gay rights
defender Alice Nkom told AFP.
"It is
not worthy of a country that speaks of human rights," she said.
The BBC's
Randy Joe Sa'ah in Yaounde says homophobia is widespread in Cameroon, as in
most African countries.
He says as
well as the five-year jail term - the maximum sentence for homosexual acts in
Cameroon - the men were each fined 200,000 CFA francs (about $400, £260).
Their
lawyer Michel Togue said it was a bad ruling and he accused the judge of
peppering the hearing with homophobic innuendos, AFP news agency reports.
The two men
who were in court were denied bail in August. The third defendant was granted
bail after their arrest in July and never appeared in court for the trial.
Ms Nkom,
who runs Cameroon's Association for the Defence of Homosexuals, told the BBC in
August that there was no evidence against the men and they had been arrested
because they looked feminine and their hair was "dressed like women".
"This
is a crime of fashion, not homosexuality," she had said.
Amnesty
International has said Cameroon's homosexuality law is draconian and
discriminatory and should be scrapped.
Related Article:
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| Gay rights lawyer Alice Nkom is campaigning to decriminalise homosexuality in Cameroon, which is one of 46 Commonwealth states to still outlaw same-sex relations. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian |
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