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Three friends in homophobic Cameroon can be set free for $213 eachDonations are urgently needed to free eight prisoners, including Addie, Diane and Sonia. For their safety, in this article they are identified by pseudonyms.This illustration of Addie, Diane and Sonia was created by ChatGPT, based on descriptions of each of them by reporter Jean Jacques Dissoke. A year ago, three young women friends were working in a hair salon and a clothing store. That comfortable life ended when Cameroon police lured them into a trap, using an online dating site.On Nov. 20, they were arrested on homosexuality charges.No longer were they seen as three friends who used to play football/soccer together. Now they were suspected of belonging to “a lesbian network” in the Ahala neighborhood of Yaoundé, the nation’s capital.They were promptly put on trial, convicted and sentenced to six months in prison under Article 347-1 of the Cameroonian Penal Code.Such is life for LGBTI people in the central African nation of Cameroon, where law enforcement uses intrusive tactics such as online surveillance and ambushes to target the LGBTI community.Addie, 27, had responded to an online invitation from someone who appeared to be an appealing lesbian. When Addie arrived at the rendezvous, police arrested her and seized her phone. Data on the phone led to the arrest of Diane, 33, and Sonia, 28, two of her friends.Yaoundé Central Prison (Photo courtesy of Andy Kopsa)Their release was scheduled for mid-May but only if they had paid fines and court costs totaling 120,000 FCFA each (about U.S. $213). They don’t have money to pay, so they remain in Yaoundé Central Prison while they work off the fine, a process that typically takes about four months.During their months in prison, they have received no visits from their families, who have rejected them. They are surrounded by homophobic and lesbophobic guards and prisoners. They get only one poorly prepared, unhygienic meal a day.In April, a reporter for Erasing 76 Crimes visited them with a delivery of food and hygiene supplies. In interviews with them, he verified that they qualify for help from Project Not Alone. The criterion: They were imprisoned for nothing other than who they love.See Also
Project Not Alone is now raising funds to pay their fines, which will qualify them for immediate release. They are three of the eight prisoners that the project aims to set free this year in addition to raising money to pay for mandatory upgrades of the free Qtalk app, which has offered private counseling to LGBTQ+ Nigerians since it was launched in 2020.Addie, Diane and Sonia remain hopeful that they will be able to resume their professional activities soon after they are released. Diane wants to open a hair salon, while Addie and Sonia want to launch a retail clothing business.Please help set them free.
Project Not Alone is a program of the non-profit St. Paul’s Foundation for International Reconciliation and its Erasing 76 Crimes news site. U.S. tax-deductible donations to Project Not Alone 2026 may be made via:
PayPal (for U.S. dollar contributions). For other currencies, send PayPal donations to stpaulsfdr@gmail.comDonorBoxGoFundMeAlternatively, you could send a check to St. Paul’s Foundation, c/o Colin Stewart, 5517 Paseo del Lago East Unit 1B, Laguna Woods CA 92637 USA. Please write “Project Not Alone” on the memo line and send an email to info@76crimes.com to let us know it’s coming.
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, https://hoimapost.co.ug/prison-3-lesbians/
