Monday, December 17, 2012

UPDATE: 3-Year Jail Term Upheld For Gay SMS


About 3 months ago I blogged about the outrageous case of a gay man in the African nation of Cameroon who was facing a 3-year jail sentence for sending an SMS text message to another man that said "I'm very much in love w/u." 32-year-old Roger Jean-Claude Mbédé has already spent 18 months in prison but was provisionally released in July pending an appeal of his initial sentence. Now comes word that a Cameroon court insists that he must serve out the rest of his sentence:
The Court of Appeal ruled early Monday that Jean-Claude Roger Mbédé   32, must serve out his three-year jail term. He was provisionally released on bail in July after spending a year and a half behind bars. 
Mbédé told The Associated Press he's not sure he can put up with the anti-gay attacks and harassment he faced from fellow inmates and prison authorities. 
Gay rights activists say the upheld sentence marks yet another setback for gays and lesbians in Cameroon, widely viewed as the most repressive in Africa when it comes to prosecuting same-sex couples.
There is a petition that you can sign protesting the sentence. Please do so, I did!.

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