MORE CAMEROONIAN GAYS GET PRISON SENTENCES

Shortly after six men received prison terms for homosexual behaviour in Cameroon, another three men have been sentenced to hard labour for being gay.

The Associated Press reported that the three men were arrested in August last year and have already spent six months in detention in anticipation of the trial.

According to their lawyer, Lazare Baeeg, Emmanuel Balep and Tony Dikongue were sentenced this week by a judge in the port city of Douala to a further six months of hard labour in prison

Defence attorney Alice Nkom has said that she will appeal the sentence as the men were never actually caught in any homosexual acts.

Earlier this week a Moroccan appeals court in the Cameroonian town of Ksar el Kebir upheld sentences against six men convicted for gay acts last year. The men, who pleaded not guilty, received sentences ranging from 10 to two months in jail.

In December Human rights activists in South Africa, France and the United States staged protests at Cameroonian embassies in their respective countries to express anger at the continued arrests and harassment of gay men and lesbians in the African nation.

More than 30 people have been arrested in Cameroon in the last two years on charges of homosexuality.