Six months later, 4 Muslim men are still in prison without trial for watching a gay video
Project Not Alone is raising money to set them free
By Steeves Winner
Four young gay Muslim men are facing two-year prison sentences in northern Cameroon because they were spotted watching gay movies. They have already served six months without a trial.
An attorney working without pay for Project Not Alone and for Sol, Sabir, Yabby and Dom (all pseudonyms) says their arrest was primarily based on the word of the imam. The evidence against them is too weak to support a conviction, he says. However, the intensity of homophobia in Cameroon should not be underestimated.
He has negotiated a pre-trial settlement that would set them free if each of them pays 250,000 CFA francs (about US $436). He managed to negotiate the amount downward from an earlier 300,000 CFA francs, but it’s still substantially above the maximum statutory fine for violations of the nation’s anti-homosexuality law, Article 347-1 of the Penal Code, which provides fines of 20,000 to 200,000 CFA francs (about US $35 to $350).
Under the proposed settlement, the men would would serve no more prison time.
Donations are urgently needed. Your gift will be doubled by an anonymous donor.
Sol, Sabir, Yabby and Dom are four of the 12 LGBTQ prisoners in Cameroon and Nigeria whom Project Not Alone 2025 aims to set free by paying their fines and legal fees. To help them, make a U.S. tax-deductible donation to Project Not Alone 2025. A generous supporter of Project Not Alone has offered to match donors’ gifts up to a total of $1,000. Please consider taking her up on that offer and doubling the impact of your gift as we raise money to free the innocent prisoners.
Several of the four young men have suffered considerable weight loss while in prison, particularly Sabir and Dom, ages 24 and 23. Those two and their friends Yabby, age 25, and Sol, age 23, were reported to police by the imam of their local mosque. after being caught watching a homosexual video. At the time, some other Muslims at the mosque had told the imam they were suspicions about the men’s sexual orientation.
On Jan. 12, they were arrested and placed in pretrial detention at Maroua prison. Some of their friends have visited them, but their families have stayed away.
At the time of their arrest, they were unemployed and living in their family homes.
A hearing in their case was held in April with no change in their situation.
As they await their long hoped-for release, the men are seeking protection against homophobic fellow prisoners.
“To guarantee our safety in the prison, we must give the guards 100,000 CFA francs (about US $177), because the living conditions there are particularly dangerous for us”, they said.
Project Not Alone 2025 aims to set free a total of 12 innocent LGBTQ prisoners in Nigeria and Cameroon, including Sol, Sabir, Yabby and Dom. So far, we have raised $5,710 of the $12,861 needed to achieve that.
To help free the innocent prisoners, make a U.S. tax-deductible donation to Project Not Alone 2025 via:
- PayPal for donations in U.S. dollars. To donate in other currencies, use this link to PalPal and direct the funds to stpaulsfdr@gmail.com.
- GoFundMe
- SpotFund
- Alternatively, you could send a check to:
St. Paul’s Foundation c/o Colin Stewart
1577 Paseo del Lago East – Unit 1B
Laguna Woods, CA, 92637
USA
Please write “Project Not Alone” on the memo line and send an email to info@76crimes.com to let us know it’s coming.
Steeves Winner, the author of this article, is a Cameroonian journalist who writes under a pseudonym. Contact him at steeves.w@yahoo.com.
