Beyond Imagination / Carved Book Landscapes by Guy Laramee

 

This SMS got him 3 years in prison

Dear Friends,

Roger Jean-Claude Mbédé just spent a year prison in Cameroon for sending this SMS to another man:I’m very much in love w/u.

Roger has a new hearing on Monday, but he’s facing two more years in a jail where he faced daily abuse from guards and horrific health conditions. Homosexuality is still illegal in Cameroon, but President Paul Biya and the Minister of Justice could put a stop to this right now by freeing Roger and declaring a moratorium on this discrimanatory law. President Biya has been swayed in the past by international pressure and knows that Cameroon’s reputation is at stake.

We have just a few days to raise a massive outcry and keep Roger from going back to jail. Will you sign the petition now calling on President Biya and the Minister of Justice to free Roger and end Cameroon’s anti-gay laws?

www.allout.org/Roger

This problem is bigger than just Roger. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Cameroon major are facing a major crackdown right now – more than 20 people have been arrested in the last year because they’re suspected of “homosexual behavior.”

Even Roger’s own family have turned their backs on him in disgust, leaving him fighting for his freedom alone. He told us, “Now, my family says I’m dangerous and they can not live with a homosexual. Cameroonians know who I am now. I don’t know how I will even be able to go back to school and get a job.”