Cameroon 'Gay Sex' men not Guilty

AFRIK UPDATE

News/Africa
CAMEROON

"Just because they were wearing women's clothes and had make-up the police said this must be a network of homosexuals and put them in jail."

       

Homosexual acts are illegal in the central African nation.

In November 2011, a court sentenced the two men to five years in prison after police arrested them for allegedly having oral sex in a car in the capital, Yaounde.

They denied the charge. On Monday the Court of Appeals ruled saying they were not guilty, Ms Nkom said.

An appeals court in Cameroon has overturned the conviction of two men jailed in 2011 for homosexual acts, their lawyer has said.

Alice Nkom said she was pleased because the judge who convicted them had been influenced by "stereotypes".

He had stated "the way the men dressed... spoke and the fact that they drank Bailey's Irish Cream proved they were gay", Ms Nkom said.