Cameroon mob kills gay man; police arrest his friends
By Denis LeBlanc. Edited by Colin Stewart.
(Aussi disponsible en français.)
A 42-year-old gay Cameroonian man, Augustin Siewe, has died from injuries suffered at the hands of a mob armed with clubs and machetes.
Two of his companions, Francis Ngamemo Tientcheu, 40, and Clovis Djeukam, 34, survived the Feb. 6 attack in the coast city of Douala, but then were placed under arrest.
Police rescued the men from the mob and transferred Siewe to a local hospital, where he died. Ngamemo and Djeukam were taken into police custody after their injuries were treated. Police then launched an investigation of them as presumed homosexuals.
Under Cameroonian law, homosexual activity is punishable by up to five years in prison.
Although the law as written only applies to people who are caught in the act of same-sex relations, in practice it is often used to penalize people for being homosexual, even without evidence of any sexual activity.
No charges against members of the mob have been reported.
Ngamemo and Djeukam apparently remain in police custody almost three months after they were attacked.
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For West Africa continent and for some other countries in the world, going to the police to report incidents related to gay right activism is a waste of time because the police do not treat such matters seriously.
There is no protection for people or groups that are sympathetic to gay issues in West Africa countries.
So far, there are no laws in West Africa countries protecting against LGBT discrimination. This implies that people in same-sex relationships are at the mercy of anti-LGBT`S.
Our cultural, traditional and religious practices frown at LGBT issues.
The truth about LGBT is that Africa continent are far behind on the road to LGBT rights. Talking openly about LGBT rights is still a taboo, let alone admitting that one is a gay, bisexual or lesbian. At present, persecution, molestation and provocation area what LGBT`S or their sympathizers face.
No matter what we in each of these cases, we came to learn that no practice or tradition trumps the human rights that belong to all of us. And this holds true for inflicting violence on LGBT people, criminalizing their status or behaviour, expelling them from their families and communities, or tacitly or explicitly accepting their killing.
is there a way we can contact the police involved to ask for the mob to be brought to justice?