‘Gay list’ editor jailed
A second newspaper editor in Cameroon has been sentenced over a recent media gay witch hunt in the African country.
Ayisi Biloa, publication director of Nouvelle Afrique, was jailed for six months and received a 4 million FCFA (6500 euros) fine after libel claims from a doctor and a government minister.
Mr Biloa’s paper had included a doctor Jean-Pierre Mayo, and Gregoire Owona, minister in charge of relationships and assemblies in a list of 50 presumed homosexuals in a controversial campaign against “deviant behaviour.”
Jean Pierre Amougo Belinga, publisher of L’Anecdote, was jailed for four months at the beginning of March on similar charges.
Ten libel complaints have been filed since the lists were published in February. Homosexuality is illegal in Cameroon as in many African countries, with jail sentences of up to five years.