Human rights lawyer Alice Nkom addresses the plight of LGBTQ2S+ individuals in Cameroon, highlighting the case of Pierre, who faces inhumane conditions in New Bell central prison for being gay. Pierre and his friend Jean recount the deep-seated homophobia and exploitation by corrupt police.
Human rights lawyer Alice Nkom , who founded the Association for the Defence of Homosexual Rights, is seen in her office in Douala, Cameroon on Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Zacharie NgnoguePierre wakes up every morning atop a makeshift wooden table, in an open-air courtyard at the New Bell central prison in Douala, the most populous city in Cameroon .
Pierre, 25, and Jean, who is now 18, spoke to The Canadian Press in June in the prison's visitation room, a former communal shower furnished with makeshift wooden stools, where shower curtains provide only scant privacy. After their arrest, Jean and Pierre say they faced homophobic insults in the remand centre and again at the prosecutor's office. One official demanded Pierre pay a bribe of about $1,150. He said that when he couldn't pay it, he was accused of arranging the rape of a child.
The longer someone is incarcerated, the more they often have to pay to get a bail hearing, or to cancel the case, with judges, prosecutors, police, prison wardens and even other prisoners wanting a cut. The group's head, Patrick Fotso, said it's a major accounting challenge, as virtually all western governments bar their donations from being used to pay off cops.
The country's high commission in Ottawa did not respond to a request for comment prior to publication. Jean said being charged with homosexuality probably confirmed what his family already knew. Only his mother has been to visit him in prison, and she has no money to share.Jean finds it ironic that police have accused him of prostitution, only to send him to a place where he's resorted to having sex for food.Youth worker Gaëlle Alima says the conditions the pair described are commonplace in Cameroon's jails, particularly for those from stigmatized groups.
Cases drag on for years, and people who are freed on bail tend to leave the country as soon as possible. Shakiro, a transgender model, was arrested in 2021 for"attempted homosexuality" in a case that garnered widespread media coverage. She ended up gaining asylum in Belgium. Nkom wants Canada to publicly push Cameroon to remove homosexuality from its penal code, though Ottawa fears that would be seen as imposing outside values.
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Gay Prisoner Pierre's Struggle in Cameroon's New Bell PrisonPierre, a gay inmate at Cameroon's Douala New Bell prison, wakes up on a makeshift table to avoid bed bugs, cleans to earn the right to sleep outdoors, and faces societal homophobia and exploitation by corrupt police. Cameroon is among 30 African countries criminalizing homosexual acts.
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