Cameroon Gay Man Re-Arrested

Disturbing news from the Cameroon where the legal ordeal of one gay man continues ...

New reports say Francois Ayissi, one of the infamous Yaoundé 11 who were arrested for simply being gay, has been re-arrested on bogus charges. Now, Ayissi is accused by his former employer of allegedly raping the man's 14 year old mentally ill son.

Ayissi says he was owed money and his former boss made up the charges to avoid paying him. Gay activists in Cameroon believe this arrest is yet another incidence of harassing gays because of their sexual orientation, “especially if their sexual orientation has been exposed either by denunciation, arrest or voluntarily coming out, they pay for it every single day,” says Charles Gueboguo with Alternatives-Cameroun.

Francois Ayissi was one of 11 gay men arrested in a June 2005 raid on a gay bar and spent more than a year behind bars. Unfortunately, one of the detainees, Alim Mongoche, died of AIDS-related complications shortly after his conviction.

Yaoundé 11 Re-Arrested (Behind the Mask)

A Little More on Gays in the Cameroon ...

• "Homosexuelle en Afrique" (Rod 2.0)
• UN Condemns Cameroon Anti-Gay Laws (Rod 2.0)
• Yaoundé 11 Free? (Rod 2.0)
• HIV Poz Athletes at Gay Games (Rod 2.0)
• Cameroon Houseboy "Raped"? (Rod 2.0)
• Yannick Noah on 'Gay List' (Rod 2.0)
• "I Have a List of 50 Names" (Rod 2.0)
• Gay Games Wrap (Rod 2.0)
• Let the (Out)Games Begin (Rod 2.0)

Comments

[Remi]

"NO to gay rights in Cameroon"
I do believe strongly that the resolve of protecting and promoting human rights, and particularly gay rights must be reconciled with the tenets of our constitutional and legal system.
We can not take the risk of sizing our political system to those of the Americas, Western Europe and the like...These systems, largely speaking, clearly separate religion or enforcement of morality from the state and that is their justification in protecting gay rights, abortion rights, and other such issues which I will, in our African jurisprudence consider as being alien. I think I speak for a good proportion of rational thinkers who have the primacy and sanctity of both our heritage and political system at heart. Once more I opine here that government action in detention of gays, if by way of due process, is tenable and should be supported at any rate.