Gay Facebook arrest in Saudi Arabia

Image via Wikipedia

Source: Gay Middle East

By Dan Littauer and Sami Hamwi

As the British Prime Minister David Cameron visits Saudia Arabia, activists report plight of a man arrested by the religious police who may face corporal punishment.

Activists are concerned for the safety of a 30-year-old man arrested by the religious police in Saudi Arabia for using Facebook to date other men.  The man, whose exact identity is not known, was arrested on 23 December (2011) but full details of the incident are only now becoming clear after a detailed investigation by Gay Middle East. Experts warn he may face blackmail and/or corporal punishment.

He is being held in custody in the Dammam Police Department [on Gulf coast] awaiting the Dammam’s General Attorney office for prosecution. The case has been reported to Amnesty International, while Facebook declined to comment.

The report by Sabaq electronic journal mentions that a Saudi citizen reported an unnamed 30-year old man to the religious police in Saudi Arabia, known as the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, which proceeded to apprehend the man who finally confessed that “the Facebook profile is his and that he had been using it for obscenity acts with other men”.

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) law is not strictly codified and its implementation, in either a lenient or severe manner, depends mostly on religious Sunni judges and scholars, as well as royal decrees (and thus subject to extreme variability).  Generally speaking punishments for homosexuality range from imprisonment and/or flogging to the death penalty. Conviction and severity of punishments depends on the social class, religion and citizenship of the accused, whereby non-western migrant workers receive usually harsher treatment than upper class Saudi citizens.

Sami Hamwi, Syria Editor of Gay Middle East, and former Saudi resident explains:

“Native born Saudi citizens who are Suni or from the Bedouin tribes in the country are often let off, while punishment are severely executed against minorities like Shiites and or newly naturalised citizens. Punishments regarding homosexuality are also held against expatriates working in Saudi Arabia, especially those coming from Asian, African and Arab countries. Dammam is a largely Shiite area and if the 30 year old aforementioned man is a Shiite, he is likely to be trialed and sentenced harshly.”

A British Foreign and Commonwealth spokesperson told Gay Middle East:

Read more »

Cameroon: Second Chance for Roger



Roger Mbede

By F. Young

In April 28, Roger Jean Claude Mbede, a 29 year old student from Cameroon, was sentenced to three years in jail for homosexuality and attempted homosexuality. His appeal of that judgment will be heard this Monday, Nov 7.

According to a news release by three Cameroonian groups, Mdebe had met the man through a teacher. He had feelings for him and sent him a text message to tell him so. However, the man alerted the police and, when Mdebe came to meet him on March 2, he was arrested.

At the trial, Mbede was represented by Alice Nkom, 66, a noted lawyer and LGBT rights activist who has been defending LGBT clients for over 10 years despite threats of arrest and violence. In recognition of her activism, she was named the Grand Marshall of Montreal's gay pride parade in August.

Mdebe was convicted even though there was no evidence of criminal conduct, according to a Human Rights Watch release on Aug. 17.

Alternatives-Cameroun, who visited Mbede in the infamous Kondengui Central Prison in Yaoundé this summer, said that he was suffering from lack of food and was in deplorable mental health. with an untreated condition affecting his left eye. He had to sleep on the floor of his cell, and had been abandoned by most of his family members, who regard him as a wizard.

Amnesty International says that "[p]rison conditions in Kondengui are harsh, with inmates suffering overcrowding, poor sanitation and inadequate food. Prison guards are poorly trained, ill-equipped and and their numbers inadequate for a large prison population." The group fears for Mbede’s safety while he is in prison, where he is at risk of homophobic attacks by inmates or prison authorities.

"A prison term can be life-threatening for inmates, particularly those who are presumed to be homosexual," said Dipika Nath of Human Rights Watch in a statement dated May 17.

Along with four other human rights groups, Amnesty International has launched an international letter-writing campaign demanding Mbede's release and the repeal of the law banning homosexual sex.

Fresh arrests of gays in Iraq

Location of Kalar

Source: Gay City News

By Michael Luongo

As America prepares to leave Iraq, after an occupation dating back to 2003, a new wave of gay suppression might be under way. According to Ali Hili, chair of Iraqi LGBT, a London-based human rights group aiding queer Iraqis, police recently raided a gay party in Kalar, a small town in Kurdistan, in the north of Iraq, arresting 25 men.

According to a news release from the group:

“The men were attending a party at a private house on 15th of September when the police raided the address. After fierce protests against the raid by human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, all but three men have since been released from the city’s Garmyan Prison. Several of those detained claim to have been subject to violent beatings while being held in solitary confinement. The authorities in Kalar refuse to disclose the whereabouts of those still in detention, the conditions in which they are held, or the charges they face.”

Kurdistan, a semi-autonomous region of Iraq only loosely under central government control since 1991, has not seen the intense violence of Baghdad and the southern portion of the country, where an estimated 700 or more gay men have been killed by religious insurgents, militias, and other forces.

“It is happening,” Hili said of the northern region. “It happened before. We don’t get that much information. The first time we got the information from a Kurdish website that published this information.”

He continued:

“In the south, there are still quite a few raids we were not able to document, and some we were not able to publicize because of protecting men from their families. We have seen a pattern of monitoring individuals. The government and the militias are now informing family members about behaviour. They are creating a system that has led to the deaths of so many individuals, because families are taking revenge. The militias are taking details like in text or video and sending it to families about their sons and daughters. And these people go crazy and kill their sons and daughters and brothers.”

Honor killings of LGBT Iraqis by family members have been widely reported since the war began.

Under Saddam Hussein, Iraq did not have a law against homosexuality, and that remains the case under occupation and the new government, according to Hili. Still, the war released a wave of violence against gays, women, intellectuals, and other symbols of a secular society.

Beginning in 2006, Gay City News’ Doug Ireland began reporting on the killing of Iraqi queers following a death-to-gays fatwa issued the year before by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the nation’s supreme Shia authority. This reporter traveled to Iraq in 2007 and 2009 and witnessed first-hand the life and death struggles of gays there, which formed the basis for two series of stories published in this newspaper.

Hili is, at best, ambivalent about the impact the US pullout will have on members of the LGBT community.

“It is going to get worse before it gets good at any point,” Hili said. “We’re watching carefully at how the situation is going to go. I think it is not going to be any worse than what we have seen in the past two to three years. The US invasion brought to the gay community nothing but catastrophe. It was a mistake, it brought fundamentalism and lack of civil society, and then there was the ruling by an Iraqi Shia religious government. They have been put in power because of that big mistake.

“I don’t think the US withdrawal will be better for us in general. Iraq will be another Afghanistan. There is no stability for anyone, and most of all for us, the gay community. I don’t see any future for us.”

Related articles

• Documenting the lives of Iraq's gay refugees (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• The lives of LGBT Iraqis in Jordan (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Turkey jails trans activists for 'insulting police'

By Paul Canning

Three transgender activists in Turkey were sentenced to prison yesterday, 25 October for 'resisting the police'.

The three are the founders of the Ankara-based transgender rights organization Pembe Hayat ("Pink Life"). One, Naz Gudumen, was sentenced to 1 year for "insulting the police" and 6 months for "resisting the police".

Kemal Ordek, Secretary General of Pembe Hayat said:

"We are shocked of the court rulings!.. The justice is not justice in Turkey for trans individuals; and especially for trans human rights defenders!"

Human Rights Watch and others have long been campaigning for all charges to be dropped.

Four police officers from the Esat Police Station in Ankara stopped the car in which the activists were riding at about 10:30 p.m. on May 17 2010 and accused them of intending to commit sex work. The women phoned for help, prompting 25 local human rights observers to go to the scene.

The police forced the activists out of the car, beat them with batons, kicked them and sprayed them with tear gas. Witnesses told the human rights organizations that the police screamed at the activists, "faggots, next time we will kill you!"

Police handcuffed the women, forced them to kneel, and beat their heads and legs while one policeman told them their activism would not protect them. All the women, visibly bruised, were forced into a police van and taken to the police station. Police held them in custody until the next morning.

Following a familiar pattern in Turkey, the five were speedily charged with resisting the police, before the prosecutor had concluded an investigation into their complaint of ill-treatment.

Lawyers for the three will now appeal the sentences.

Last month a Turkish government Minister held an historic meeting with the organisation.

In June, Amnesty International published ‘Not an illness nor a crime: Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Turkey demand equality.‘ It said:

“Transgender women in particular face the greatest barriers to entering employment and are in a great many cases forced to engage in illegal sex work.”

“Nearly every transgender woman that Amnesty International spoke to in early 2011 described being subjected to extreme violence -- including sexual violence -- by police officers in police stations in previous years.”

“The issuing of fines by police officers -- using both the Misdemeanor Law and the Traffic Law -- has become the principal method of harassing transgender women.”

Last week there was another killing of a transgender person in Turkey, this time a 'honour killing'.

Does the world care about gays in Cameroon?

N'Kom image via Wikipedia

By Paul Canning

Two men arrested in August in Cameroon for looking effeminate and who reportedly "confessed" to homosexuality after being tortured are being defended today 10 October in court by the legendary Cameroonian LGBT human rights defender Alice N'Kom.

This morning she sent out a message:

"I'm about to walk into a courtroom in downtown Yaoundé to defend Jonas, 19 and Franky, 20 - two Cameroonian boys arrested last July for the "crime" of being gay."

"It's going to be a tough one, but I've never felt so strong: I know I have your support and 55,000 people behind me."

N'Kom is referring to a petition by allout.org. A third man was arrested with Jonas and Franky but bailed, according to the Cameroon LGBT group Association for Defense of Homosexuality (ADEFHO), "thanks largely to his money". N'Kom continues:

"Your efforts are having an immediate impact. My cell phone has been ringing non-stop with everyone from diplomats to human rights organizations and high profile media telling me that they are now paying attention to the crisis here. Also, I just heard that today's case is being closely monitored at the highest levels of our government. The Ministry of Justice knows the world is watching and that Cameroon's reputation is at stake."

"This is really positive - but many of the people arrested because they are gay are still in jail, and the violence is ongoing. We need to show the authorities that we will not stop until everyone is released, and until homosexuality is no longer criminalized under Cameroon's laws."

At least ten men have been arrested and imprisoned for homosexuality in Cameroon so far this year. Roger Jean Claude Mbede is one imprisoned in Yaoundé Central Prison (Kondengui) for homosexuality. According to Alternatives-Cameroun he is suffering in a state of deplorable health and lack of food with his left eye without treatment or medications.

"He told us he slept on the ground since his imprisonment, and is abandoned by most of his family members who regard  him as a wizard," they said.

Amnesty International is running an international campaign demanding Mbede's release.

A proposed revision to Cameroon's criminal code will equate homosexuality with pedophilia, according to activists.

Two new by-laws punish homosexual acts on minors between 16 and 21 years of age to eight years in jail with 10-15 year terms available for acts committed on minors younger than 16, activist Stéphane Koche told AFP.

Although 55,000 is a lot the number pales in comparison to other international petitions. So N'Kom is asking for further support and to push the petition numbers over 100,000. Supporters can send a message via Facebook or Twitter. Another option is to tweet to President Biya's account.

Cameroon is a member of the Commonwealth, one of only two non-former British colonies to join.

There is a major campaign to get the issue of homosexuality and HIV/Aids onto the agenda of the Commonwealth leaders summit in Perth, Australia, from 28-30 October. Laws like Cameroon's stop people who are at greater risk of HIV from accessing key prevention services and life-saving treatment services. As a result more people are infected and ultimately more people will die.

• Sign the letter urging action to stop HIV.

Related articles

• Cameroon: Jailed for Texting? Major new campaign launched (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• In Cameroon, proposed law change equates homosexuality with pedophilia (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• In Cameroon, arrested gays 'tortured into confessing homosexuality' (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Cameroon's longtime strongman seeks another term (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Video: In Australia, Amnesty leader critices 'Malaysia deal' and Serco accused of negligence and assault

Amnesty secretary-general Salil Shetty has criticised the Australian federal government's failed Malaysia solution, sending asylum seekers to the country despite its human rights record for 'offshore processing', saying Australia "should know better".

Source: NewsOnABC



Source: Corporate Watch

Events in Australia over the last month have shown outsourcing giant Serco's claim to have a worldwide reputation to be more than just corporate speak: the company gets accused of abusing refugees wherever it is.

The inquest into the Christmas Island tragedy in December 2010, in which an estimated 50 refugees entering Australia were killed after their boat crashed into rocks, heard that guards at the Serco-run Christmas Island detention centre were told by detainees that the boat was coming but did nothing to help them. A Serco officer allegedly told them they would have to wait until morning before they could do anything.

Things looked even worse for Serco, whose lawyers had tried to stop the detainees' evidence being heard, after staff members admitted they had not been advised what to do if detainees told them refugee boats were about to arrive. And as that inquest adjourned until November, 50 Iranian detainees were signing a complaint accusing Serco guards at the Curtin detention centre in Western Australia of assault and another inquest was concluding, this time into the suicides of three refugees detained in the Villawood Detention Centre, also operated by Serco.

The centre manager admitted to the inquest that some of the officers had not had sufficient training and the coroner heard how Josefa Rauluni killed himself the day he was due to be deported to Fiji after a one-and-a-half hour stand-off with Serco staff, who were reportedly taunting:

“One way or another, you are going to the airport. The boys are going to come at get you.” 

And just as people in the UK are wondering how a company with such a record can keep winning contracts in an ever increasing variety of public services (it is even trying to run the London Fire Brigade's training programme), aboriginal activists in Western Australia were dismayed to learn that Serco had won the contract for running prisoner transfer services in the state, which were tendered after an Aboriginal elder had died of heat stroke in the back of a G4S van. This shouldn't cause too much concern for G4S; it remains the second biggest profiteer from Australia's immigration system.

No prizes for guessing who's the first.

Related articles

• Video: In Australia, skyrocketing self-harm rates spark detention inquest (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Video: More problems for Australia's 'Malaysia deal' on asylum 'boat people'; detainees 'digging their own graves' (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Is Australia preparing to send LGBT refugees to Malaysia? (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Iran's repression of LGBT to face challenge at UN

Saghi Ghahraman

Iran's human rights violations on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity will be considered by the United Nations Human Rights Committee Universal Periodic Review 17 October.

Human Rights Watch has made a detailed submission, as has Amnesty International. Excerpts from Amnesty's submission follows below as does the submission of the Iranian Queer Organization - IRQO.

~~~


By Saghi Ghahraman (IRQO)

Right after the revolution, execution of Gay and Transsexuals began, by the ruling clergies, illegally; it was legalized in 1995 - two decades after the revolution – when Shari’a law, Islam’s Code of Conduct, legally replaced Iran’s penal code.

Article 110 – executions based on sodomy; Article 130 – executions based on lesbianism; Article 220 – granting fathers the right to kill their children, recognizing fathers as blood-owners of their own children, turned State and Society, equally, into executioners of gays, lesbians, bi, and transsexual population, and also the heterosexuals; clergies have used sodomy laws against those prisoners who couldn’t be executed or persecuted otherwise.

Shari’a law is not only responsible for killing of LGBT members of society in Iran, it is also the basis of generations of LGBT’s lack of parenting, education, carrier, housing, and overall security and safety.

The fact that no LGBT Iranian dares to introduce themselves as L, G, B or T by their own voice, face, name is because of the fear-mongering articles of Shari’s sodomy law.

Since the government in Iran doesn’t offer any explanation for hostility against the gay community, and because there are signs of lack of relevant information in the government re homosexuals, I would like to quote a gay blogger’s advise to Mr. Ahmadinejad when he was first elected president of Iran on 2005:

"I urge you, Sir, as the president of Iran, to employ a team of medical scientists and lawyer to study and investigate homosexuality, come up with a result of the studies, and present it; if they announce homosexuality illness or crime, we oblige; if they say it was not, you, as the state of Iran, oblige, and decriminalize homosexuality and let us live in peace."

The task has not been undertaken by the government Iran, curiously.

While Mr. Ahmadinejad claims 'There Are No Homosexuals in Iran', his statesmen and spokespersons claim 'Homosexuals Are the Force behind Iran’s Green Movement'. Question is: Do we not have homosexuals in Iran? Or, we do, and they’re so many and so capable as to be the back-bone of a huge civil movement as Iran’s Green Movement? Question is: what is considered crime, or what is considered crime on the part of homosexuals? Sexual orientation, or doubting patriarchy in the face of a primitive ideology?

Living as a Queer woman over 50 years, a Queer poet over 20 years, directing a LGBT advocacy organization over five years, I have been witness to the horror the community in Iran goes through, everyday, not only by way of murders and executions but in everyday life of Not Living a simple, decent, dignified life human beings deserve in the realm in the Age of Democracy and Human Rights. And I am not talking only about those of our children who are disadvantaged and deprived, but also about gay professors, TS engineers, lesbian and gay specialist medical doctors, gay and lesbian poets, writers, artists, journalists and more, of highly accomplished status, all working inside Iran, who are victims in the hand of a hostile set of laws, and are most vulnerable.

I would like to offer the government of Iran to give account and explanation for violations of LGBT human rights. Or, to replace the primitive penal code of Shari’a law with constitutions based on 21st century human rights. Or if either is not doable, I would like to suggest that Mr. Ahmadinejad, the head of state of Iran, in his trips to the UN, travel to the USA on the back of a camel. After all, we, the LGBT of Iran shouldn’t be only ones treated with the mind-set of the dark-ages of 1400 years back in history.

~~~

Amnesty International has called on the Iranian authorities to cooperate fully with all UN human rights mechanisms, including by allowing the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran to conduct fact-finding missions to Iran.

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Audio: The Sisyphean task of Belgrade's gay pride march

Pic: Jonathan Davis

By Paul Canning

Last year, writing for the Serbian news website Vreme, Predrag Azdejković compared the organisers of Belgrade's gay pride parade to Sisyphus.

"They have been trying to organize the parade since 2001, but its stone rolls downhill every time. The organizers, like Sisyphus, cannot give up so they return to the bottom of the hill and start rolling the stone back to the top, hoping to succeed every time. Unlike Sisyphus, who was punished by gods to roll it uphill, the gay parade's organizers chose the punishment willingly, and, believe me, organizing a gay parade in Serbia is a punishment indeed."

The 2010 parade attacted 600 people - and 20,000 opponents, who rioted resulting in many arrests and injuries. Numerous Facebook groups were set up with memberships in the tens of thousands which threatened to murder gays and their supporters. The leader of the nationalist organization Obraz, Mladen Obradovic, received a prison sentence for organising the violent counter demonstrations

The 2010 parade followed the cancellation the previous year, which was seen as the State giving in to threats. It had the support of Interior Minister Ivica Dačić and Human and Minority Rights Minister Svetozar Čiplić, as well as by the majority of parliamentary parties in Serbia.

The first Belgrade Pride parade, in 2001, ended with dozens of marchers injured by marauding nationalists, skinheads and football fans.

Organising committee member Goran Miletić said:

“I believe that police can secure the gathering [this year] so everything would go well. The state has showed that it can protect all the citizens, which is visible in matches. The parade is not a threat to security.”

Police have discovered that one right-wing group is using the codename "Belgrade in flames" for their operation against Gay Pride.

Politicians including the Belgrade Mayor have tried to get the 2011 parade called off because they know the same opponents will be out in force. But Serbia as well as Croatia - where a pride march suffered a vicious attack in Split 11 June - are candidates for the expansion of the European Union, and politicians know that their treatment of LGBT people and facilitating a safe gay pride parade is a crucial factor in whether they will be admitted.

One exception is United Serbia (JS) leader Dragan Marković Palma who was forced to clarify that his party had never called for violence and bloodshed but that they will never support Gay Pride because “Serbia has more important things to do”.

This was Marković’s response to Gay-Straight Alliance NGO’s announcement that they will file a lawsuit against him “for homophobia, discrimination and violation of equality”.

Marković said that:

“homosexuality was considered a disease 20 years ago, not according to Dragan Marković Palma, but according to the World Health Organization, but it was taken off the disease list under pressure from powerful lobbies”.

Read more »

Ugandan activist inspires in Northern Ireland

Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera opening Foyle Pride, Derry, Northern Ireland

By Michael Carchrie Campbell

You are facing arrest at any time, there are death threats published in newspapers concerning you, you are forced to move home frequently as it is unsafe not to do so, and all because of those that you love.

This is the sad, unfortunate, and unacceptable life that 25 August’s speaker at the Amnesty International Belfast Pride Lecture 2011 faces every day of her life in her own country. She says:

"I love my country, I want to live in it. There is nowhere else I want to live."

But it seems that many in the Parliament of her country do not want her there. We were shown many photographs of protests across her country against ‘same-sex marriage’ and ‘sodomy’. We, here in Belfast, could almost hear the ‘Save Ulster from Sodomy‘ campaign of the now Lord Bannside resounding back at us through another medium.

Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera was inspirational when she talked of the struggle for freedoms that we in Northern Ireland and across Europe tend to take for granted.

She talked about how it is important for her security and of all the gay community to be ensured:

"We need to be careful – we’re better activists alive than dead."

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Video: In Mexico, first national march against anti-gay hate crime

Marcha contra la homofobia from elhorizontal.com on Vimeo.

By Paul Canning

Mexicans gay and straight marched 13 August from the office of the Attorney General (PGR), Marisela Morales, to Mexico City's main square (the Zocolo) to demand justice for Christian Sánchez and over 700 people killed in the country in 2011 so far for their sexual orientation.

Mexico reportedly has the second highest rate of homophobic crimes in Latin America. The national march follows protests elsewhere in Mexico, such as a July march in Guerrero the capital city of the southern state of Chilpancingo, following the possible stoning murder of activist Leija Herrera.

The contingent, led by the Sánchez family, activists and local legislators, demanded that the federal agency to implement a national plan to combat homophobia. Protesters called on the authorities to reaffirm the status of the murder of Sánchez as a homophobic hate crime and punished "in exemplary fashion" those responsible. They also requested that the case be transferred to the agency specialised in crimes against the sexual diversity community.

Christian Sánchez

Daniel Sánchez Juarez, the victim's brother, read a statement on behalf of the organising committee of the march, to demand that all hate crimes in Mexico "are clarified with the rigor and the definition of hate crime homophobic, lesfobia, biphobia and transphobia." They demanded a federal law to "prevent and punish conduct homophobic antidiversas, anti-progressive and intolerant that generates an environment conducive to hate crimes."

They requested strongly that the National Council to Prevent Discrimination (CONAPRED) "launch in full force a national campaign against violence against LGBTTTI community, it has become urgent that all states have in the their penal codes hate crime law."

The march was attended by representatives of Amnesty International, the National Association of Democratic Lawyers, Agenda LGBT Fundar, Project 21, the Gay and Lesbian Business Association and Mexican ProDiana Association, among other groups.

Sánchez, a well respected activist in the largest left-wing party, the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), and a member of la Coordinación de Diversidad Sexual del PRD-DF (the Coordination of Diversity Sexual PRD-DF party, the party's LGBT group), was found dead in his apartment in the neighborhood of Tlatelolco on 23 July, with nearly 100 stab wounds.

Sánchez family at 5 August memorial event

5 August the president of the PRD in the Federal District (Mexico City PRD), Manuel Oropeza Morales, unveiled a plaque in Sánchez's honor in Tlatelolco to highlighted his work to extend and defend the rights of sexual diversity in the country and in Mexico City.

According to Daniel Sánchez Juarez this is the first time a national march of this nature has been organised.

Following the march, a contingent met the Attorney General of Mexico City, Gabriel Hernandez, to request a hearing with Attorney Miguel Ángel Mancera and require a report on the progress of an investigation into the murder of Christian Sánchez.

The march's demands included an end to impunity and to require the murder of gays, lesbians and transsexuals are not considered any more as "crimes of passion". Another of the demands was a campaign to raise the awareness of public servants and police forces on issues of sexual diversity and the creation of a Special Prosecutor.

Most murders go unreported outside of Mexico. Activists in Puebla State just reported on at least 10 hate crime murders of LGBTTTI from 2005 to date. In July we reported the shooting of five trans women in Chihuahua.

Related articles

• In Guerrero, Mexico, LGBT march against violence, demand justice (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• 17 Killed by Gunmen at Gay Party in Mexico (towleroad.com)
• México: Crímenes de odio en Puebla: sin tipificar ni prevenir (ilga.org) 

In Cameroon, proposed law change equates homosexuality with pedophilia

Alice Nkom Image via Wikipedia

By Paul Canning

A revision to Cameroon's criminal code will equate homosexuality with pedophilia, according to activists.

Two proposed new by-laws punish homosexual acts on minors between 16 and 21 years of age to eight years in jail with 10-15 year terms available for acts committed on minors younger than 16, activist Stéphane Koche told AFP.

The new law thus equates acts committed on both age groups as paedophilia, Koche said.

The proposed law change "will allow judges to condemn more people more easily," Alice Nkom, lawyer and president of ADEFHO (Association pour la Défense des Homosexuels, Association for the Defense of Homosexuals) said.

Homosexual acts in general remain punishable by between six months to five years imprisonment in the new criminal code, Koche said.

In an interview with Jeaune Afrique [text via Google translate] Nkom said that the situation for LGBT in Cameroon has got worse over the past ten years:

"Homosexuals lived much better before than now. 10 years ago they arrested fewer people for their homosexuality. This is the result of a combination of two situations: the Catholic Church in a homily in 2005 accused homosexuals of being the cause of moral depravity and of youth unemployment. Subsequently, almost all the newspapers at that time have included this message."

"Some have gone further by publishing (in 2006) a list of homosexuals with their names and their functions. This has created drama in the family. Children suffered the evil of their classmates at school, it was terrible."

"In a country where things are done normally, one would have expected the intervention of the Head of State, to a circular addressed to the prosecutors, judicial police officers, about this savage repression, so they stop. But nothing was done, homosexuals are still treated as abominable."

Nkom and others defending LGBT have come under sustained attack, including threats by state officials of possible arrest and with violence from segments of civil society.

Roger Jean Claude Mbede was arrested and sentenced in March to 36 months of prison after sending an text message in which he declared his love to a friend he had met on the internet. Amnesty International is running an international campaign demanding his release.

LGBT rights group Alternatives-Cameroun recently saw him in Yaoundé Central Prison (Kondengui). They said:

"We found Mr. Mbede in a state of moral health and nutritional deplorable. Suffering at the time  with his  left eye and without treatment or medications. He told us he slept on the ground since his imprisonment, and abandoned  by most of his family members who regard  him as a wizard."

The 2011 US State Department report on human rights in Cameroon says that individuals incarcerated in Douala's New Bell Prison for homosexual acts suffered discrimination and violence from other inmates. A report by IGLHRC last year said that police and prison officers routinely abuse detainees they suspect of same-sex sexual relationships.

Today, four men were arrested in what a lawyer described to AFP as "obviously a set up."

This month two young gay men arrested, according to Nkom, because they were effeminate "confessed" to homosexuality after being tortured

In June a violent attack on a suspected gay couple was reported.

In late January, a young gay man, Serges T., was nearly burned alive by a mob in Douala .

Despite this situation Nkom spoke hopefully with Jeaune Afrique about change:

"Cameroon does not want to occupy a prominent place in the international community and not respect all the conventions that enshrine the rights of man. The country adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a preamble to its constitution. It is provided for in Article 45 that the international conventions and treaties signed and ratified are above the law. Cameroon is a member of the United Nations but does not respect the values ​​promoted by the organization including respect for human rights.

"A [LGBT human rights] resolution was passed at the UN in June. It now sees minority rights as part of human rights. While Cameroon had voted against the majority, the resolution was adopted. It will be obliged to submit one day and legalise homosexuality. You can not swim against the current."

Related articles

• In Cameroon, arrested gays 'tortured into confessing homosexuality' (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Cameroon: 'End feminine men case' (bbc.co.uk)
• In Cameroon, more arrests of gays, awful treatment in prison (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Video: Ugandan lesbian activist's powerful speech to Amnesty International

Last weekend Ugandan lesbian activist Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera spoke to Amnesty International (AI)'s International Council meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. This speech drew widespread plaudits, including from AI Secretary General Salil Shetty..

Yesterday we learned that Nabagesera had been denied a visa to come to the UK and give a speech such as this.

Source: AmnestyInternational



Transcript:

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In Cameroon, more arrests of gays, awful treatment in prison

By Paul Canning

The Cameroon LGBT group Alternatives Cameroun reports on more arrests of gay men in that country.

Three were arrested 25 July in front of the Madison Night Club (Montée Mimboman) in the capital, Yaoundé.

They were arrested according to Cameroon Tribune for allegedly having sex in a car - according to KaiWalai a blowjob - by a special security force unit, the GMI (Groupement Mobile d'Intervention) who saw the car swerving. The report alleges they were dressed in women's clothing and that the two younger men were prostitutes.

The three were then held in custody for a week. Two of them - Jonas (19 years) and Francky (20) - remain in prison with an 18 August court date. According to Alternatives-Cameroun, the third man, N. Hilaire, 36, was able to negotiate his release from detention "thanks to his financial resources and his health problem", however the newspaper reports a bribe being rejected.

Roger Jean Claude Mbede

Alternatives-Cameroun have visited another gay man in Yaoundé Central Prison (Kondengui) who is imprisoned for homosexuality, Roger Jean Claude Mbede. They said:

"We found Mr. Mbede Roger Jean Claude in a state of moral health and nutritional deplorable. Suffering at the time  with his  left eye and without treatment or medications. He told us he slept on the ground since his imprisonment, and abandoned  by most of his family members who regard  him as a wizard."

Mbede was arrested and sentenced in March to 36 months of prison after sending an text message in which he declared his love to a friend he had met on the internet. Amnesty International is running an international campaign demanding his release.
They say Mbede is “at risk of physical attack and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment on account of his real or perceived sexual orientation.”

Related articles

• Amnesty launches campaign for imprisoned Cameroonian gay man (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• In Cameroon, another violent attack on gay people (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Has something positive come from death of Malaysian trans activist?

Candlelight vigil for Aleesha Farhana. (Pic Justine Mei-Ern)

Source: Fridae

By Sylvia Tan

In a written statement, the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development clarified that it in fact provides counselling and guidance to transgender people without the “intention of ‘correcting’ behaviour etc in line with socially accepted norms.”

The Malaysia Women, Family and Community Development Ministry has said in a statement that Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil and Secretary-General Dato’ Noorul Ainur will meet with Seksualiti Merdeka, a sexuality rights advocacy group, and members of the transgender community to understand and address the needs of transgender people in Malaysia.

The ministry was responding to a petition endorsed by 17 NGOs and some 600 unnamed individuals following the passing of transgender woman Aleesha Farhana whose application to officially change her name and gender was rejected by the High Court despite having undergone a sex reassignment surgery in Thailand two years ago.

According to reports, she died from a heart attack on Saturday, 12 days after the High Court ruling.

The statement, which has been published on Seksualiti Merdeka's website on Aug 3, said that transgender people in Malaysia face extreme levels of stigmatisation and discrimination which is often exacerbated by biased media reporting. Transgender people often face abuses “ranging from physical violence to mental torture to sexual assault”, to being “prevented from accessing health services, housing, education, employment and other basic rights enjoyed by all Malaysians.”

“The unwillingness of the Malaysian government to recognise trans people as equal before the law facilitates this ugly persistence in violating us.”

The statement further urged the authorities to “repeal of laws that criminalise trans people for (their) identity, dressing and mannerisms” and to create a safer environment for transgender people.

Among the NGOs that endorsed the statement were Amnesty International (Malaysia), Association of Women’s Lawyers, Centre for Independent Journalism, Coalition of Sexual Bodily Rights, Seksualiti Merdeka and Suaram.

In a written reply from Suriani Kempe, Special Tasks Officer to the Minister of Women, Family and Community Development, the ministry clarified that it in fact provides counselling and guidance to transgender people without the “intention of ‘correcting’ behaviour etc in line with socially accepted norms.”

Co-founder of Seksualiti Merdeka Pang Khee Teik told Fridae:

“We are happy to observe that the Ministry is willing to engage, and willing to articulate a position that is progressive and inclusive. Of course there is a lot more that the Ministry can do before all of us have equal opportunities to be helped and to access services in Malaysia. But we must support such a stand and hold the Ministry accountable to act positively for the good of all transgender people in Malaysia.”

Seksualiti Merdeka, which is also an annual sexuality rights festival held in August, will also be organising a forum titled “Say My Name: Why name and gender means so much to transgender people” later this month, and have extended the invitation to Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil and Secretary-General Dato’ Noorul Ainur.

Related articles

• In Malaysia, trans woman who lost High Court case dies of heart attack (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Malaysian opposition leader's comments on LGBT spark online debate (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Is Australia preparing to send LGBT refugees to Malaysia?

By Paul Canning

As Australia's High Court puts the controversial refugee swap deal with Malaysia on hold, questions remain on how Australia has and will treat LGBT refugees who arrive by boat.

Australia plans to send up to 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia in return for accepting 4,000 registered refugees from that country over four years under a deal supposedly designed to stop 'boat people' from landing in Australia.

Lawyers representing refugees who arrived on Christmas Island by boat last week told the court that because Malaysia is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention, Australia cannot guarantee the safety of people sent there. Malaysia does not have a statutory framework that recognises refugees. Amnesty International released a report in late 2010 reporting on numerous incidents of caning and congestion in detention facilities in Malaysia.

Last year we reported on the case of Leela Krishna, a Tamil refugee who had arrived by boat. Krishna said that he had experienced sexual harassment, bullying and physical assault in detention and has attempted suicide several times.

Refugee activist Andrew John Brent said:

"There is always lgbt boat people refugees ...  Community Action Against Homophobia (CAAH) have been working with two men (partners) from Bangladesh, who are trying to prove their sexuality and relationship for immigration."

An Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship spokesman told us that:

"There will be no broad or blanket exemptions to transfer. Prior to transfer, individuals will undergo an assessment of their particular circumstances to ensure compliance with Australia’s international obligations."

"Where exceptional circumstances exist, such as in the case of particularly vulnerable individuals, a case-by-case assessment will be conducted to determine whether particular individuals should be transferred [to Malaysia]."

Australian Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has repeatedly said that there will be 'no exceptions' to the policy of transfers.

Pressed on what guarantees LGBT refugees could receive if transferred to Malaysia the spokesman wrote:

"Protection visa claims will be processed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refuges (UNHCR) in Malaysia."

Homosexuality is illegal in Malaysia with sodomy attracting a possible 20 year prison sentence. The country has itself generated LGBT refugees.

Last year at least two Malaysian men and one transgender woman, Fatine Young, successfully claimed refugee status in the UK.

Fatine had received death threats in Malaysian on Facebook. An article in the Malay Mail spoke of claims she had "shamed Malaysia".

Another transgender woman from Malaysia was granted refugee status in Australia on the basis that being unable to change her identity documentation and access employment would result in her inability to subsist.

One refugee told us

"Whats wrong with [Australia]! There's no human right there?"

"How can the Malaysian government offer protection to refugee when they can't even protect their own people, especially lgbt? It will be worse if the refugee is lgbt. I can't imagine what will happen to them there."

Senthorun Raj, of Sydney's NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, wrote that:

"If we are committed to a more ethical and regional solution to processing asylum seekers, particularly those who flee on the basis of homophobia and transphobia, we must get things right here in Australia, and not try to outsource our international obligations to another country."

David Manne from the Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre who had sought the High Court injunction stopping the refugee swap deal, argued that Australia did not have the right to deport 'boat people'.

“Australian law requires that their claims for refugee protection should be considered here in Australia instead of expelling them to Malaysia,” he told AFP.

“This is about life or death matters and our clients are challenging the government’s power to expel them to Malaysia where they fear they will not be protected and they are at real risk of harm,” he said.

85% of asylum seekers arrive by plane. Those arriving by boat to Australia peaked at close to 7,000 in 2010, but closer to 2,000 'boat people' have arrived this year.

Related articles

• Malaysia is no safe haven for refugees, say Malaysian advocates (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• In Australia, fears for gay refugees under 'swap deal' with Malaysia (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

In Ghana, fightback begins against homophobic attacks

John Atta Mills image via Wikipedia

By Paul Canning

Updates are below

After initially trying 'quiet diplomacy', Ghanaian LGBT have formed an alliance with civil society supporters to oppose an increasingly vociferous anti-gay campaign in that country.

International attention has focused on the call by the Chief Minister of the Western Region for the arrest of gays but Ghanaian media has been full of attacks against gays and calls for government action against them has included highly personal attacks on President John Atta Mills. One health NGO reports being asked by the Western Region government to provide names of MSM (Men who have Sex with Men) using its services.

A Coalition Against Homophobia in Ghana (CAHG) was announced yesterday. It says:

"The Coalition has among its objectives to create a friendly rapport between the media and the LGBT community and also educate people to respect the rights of LGBT people’s privacy and human dignity, which is a vital part of fundamental human rights."

"With the help of our local and African Regional allies of Human Rights Defenders, the Coalition will continue to organize against any efforts by hateful groups, institutions, and individuals to demean, blackmail, arrest, or violently assault LGBT individuals."

CAHG says that the increasing homophobic attacks "disgraces Ghana’s image internationally" and warns that if they continue unchecked Ghana faces becoming "a pariah state like Uganda and Zimbabwe".

The Coalition's formation follows criticism that many local human rights activists and bodies were failing to speak out. According to a 22 July Toronto Star article:

"On most issues, Ghana has a fairly vocal human rights activist community. Not so in this instance."

This included the local branch of Amnesty International, whose Director Laurence Amesu would "not take a position on the 'unnatural carnal knowledge' law" and whose website has not carried a statement on the arrest call put out by Amnesty's International Office.

Wrote Abdul Musah Sidibe:

"It seems anyone who attempts to speak out against the apparent human rights violation and the seeming unconstitutional rallying cry is labelled a homosexual. And in a very homophobic society, that is enough to silent critics and continue the rage."

Amongst those failing to offer support was Richard Quason, Deputy Commissioner of the government appointed independent organisation for the safeguarding of human rights in Ghana, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ). However on Monday, the newly appointed Commissioner, Lauretta Lamptey, called for the decriminalisation of homosexuality, this following her predecessor who had also publicly supported LGBT human rights.

Read more »

Video: Discrimination and violence against LGBT in Turkey

Source: AmnestyFrance

• More about Amnesty's report.

Related articles

• "Ahmadinejad! We're right here!" LGBT Iranian asylum seekers march in Ankara (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Amnesty launches campaign for imprisoned Cameroonian gay man (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Amnesty wants overhaul of UK forced removals

Image via Wikipedia

Source: Amnesty International

The UK Government must conduct a complete and radical overhaul of the current system of enforced removals from the UK, according to a new briefing and campaign launched today by Amnesty International UK.

Private security companies, contracted by the UK Government, have reportedly used dangerous and improper control and restraint techniques. In the 2010 case of Jimmy Mubenga at least, these appear to have resulted in someone’s death. One such technique was nick-named by contractors “Carpet Karaoke”, as it involved forcing an individual’s face down towards the carpet with such force that they were only able to scream inarticulately ‘like a bad karaoke singer’. It involves the seated detainee being handcuffed, with a tight seatbelt through the cuffs and their head pushed down between their legs. There is a serious risk of death by positional asphyxia when this technique is used.

Other cases featured in the Amnesty briefing include a Moroccan national who claims his arm was broken when he was restrained by his arms and legs and was dropped down the stairs of the airplane; and a refused asylum seeker from the Democratic Republic of Congo, who said he struggled to breathe and feared he was going to die when security staff put a knee on his chest and sat on him, after he resisted his removal at Heathrow.

Sources with direct working experience of enforced removals have told Amnesty about serious failings in the training of private contractors conducting forced removals. Staff are trained in control and restraint techniques that are unsuitable for use on aircraft; there is no mandatory training in the safe use of handcuffs and restraints; and there is no watertight system in place to ensure that those accredited to conduct removals have received the required level of training. The reportedly widespread use of sub-contractors to fill staff shortages also raises further serious concerns about training and accountability.

The new campaign, backed by Jimmy Mubenga’s widow Adrienne Makenda Kambana, urges people to go to www.amnesty.org.uk/removal and take action by writing to Home Secretary Theresa May, urging independent monitoring of all enforced removals and improved training for removals staff.

Read more »

LGBT in Turkey: not an illness nor a crime

Image via Wikipedia

Source: Today's Zeman

By Orhan Kemal Cengiz

The situation of sexual minorities - lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) - in Turkey is one of the most problematic areas with respect to their rights.

Their very existence is denied, ignored and stigmatized. They are the number one victims of hate crimes. They are discriminated against in every aspect of life in Turkey. While they suffer the most serious human rights violations, public awareness about their problems has always remained very low and shallow.

Amnesty International in London has just published a report on the situation of sexual minorities in Turkey. The report, “‘Not an illness nor a crime': Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Turkey demand equality,” [see below] makes a reference, amongst other things, to the infamous remarks by State Minister for Women and Family Affairs Selma Aliye Kavaf, who had declared that homosexuality is an illness.

I hope the report will create some awareness about the problems of the LGBT community in Turkey. As soon as I received a copy of the report I read it quite enthusiastically and highlighted some facts and conclusions made by Amnesty International. I would like to share my highlights on the report with you:

“…not a single provision has been brought before Parliament to protect the right to non-discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Instead, there has been a long line of discriminatory statements by government officials from which the government has failed to distance itself or issue apologies for.”

“Homophobic and trans-phobic views are common in the media.”

Read more »

Amnesty launches campaign for imprisoned Cameroonian gay man

Image via Wikipedia

Amnesty International has launched an international protest campaign for a gay Cameroonia whose story we carried a few weeks ago.

Here's Amnesty's statement:

Thousands of Amnesty International supporters are appealing to the authorities in Cameroon to immediately and unconditionally release a man who has been jailed for charges of homosexuality and attempted homosexuality.  

Jean-Claude Roger Mbede was arrested in March by members of Cameroon’s security service while meeting an acquaintance. Prior to the meeting, the man he was meeting had showed text messages he had received from Jean-Claude Roger Mbede to the police.  

Jean-Claude Roger Mbede was taken into custody on suspicion of homosexuality at the Gendarmerie du Lac detention centre in Yaoundé. He was held there for seven days before being charged with homosexuality and attempted homosexuality and transferred to Kondengui central prison on 9 March.   

On 28 April, Jean-Claude was found guilty of homosexuality and attempted homosexuality and sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment.  He is currently serving his sentence at Kondengui central prison where he is at risk of homophobic attacks, as well as ill-treatment by fellow inmates or prison authorities because of his real or perceived sexual orientation.   

Homophobia is endemic in Cameroonian society and the arrests, prosecutions and trials of gay men occur on a regular basis. 

Amnesty International’s LGBT Campaign Manager Clare Bracey said:  

“Locking someone up for their real or perceived sexual orientation is a flagrant breach of basic rights and should not be allowed under any country’s penal code.   Because of the state’s intolerance to homosexuality and the general social attitude, homophobia is rife in Cameroon and Amnesty International fears for the safety of Jean-Claude Roger Mbede while he is in prison.  

“We’re urging the Cameroonian government to repeal this law under the penal code in accordance with its international human rights obligations, and to immediately and unconditionally release Mr Mbede.”  

Prison conditions in Kondengui are harsh, with inmates suffering overcrowding, poor sanitation and inadequate food. Prison guards are poorly trained, ill-equipped and their numbers inadequate for a large prison population. Mbede’s lawyers are currently appealing his sentence.

• Amnesty action page

Related articles

• EU officials tell Africa to shape up on gay rights (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• In Cameroon, three more arrests for homosexuality (madikazemi.blogspot.com)