Death Penalty News

Lawyers working with the German Foreign Office have allegedly revealed the sexual identity of gay, lesbian and bisexual refugees to their home countries. The Lesbian and Gay Association of Germany (LSVD) referred to these instances as "human rights abuse" that has to be stopped immediately. The Lesbian and Gay Association of Germany (LSVD) has accused German authorities of inadvertently revealing the sexual orientation of asylum seekers in multiple instances. It said that the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) -- in a bid to check information available on the sexual identity of certain asylum seekers in several cases -- sent a list of questions to the Federal Foreign Office (foreign ministry), which in turn commissioned lawyers to conduct this research using the network of the German embassies. "This is how confidential information from the asylum procedure was passed on to people in the home countries. In many cases, this spells out the end of their social...

Cameroon's main opposition leader, Maurice Kamto, has gone on trial in a military court in Yaoundé, along with 90 of his supporters. Kamto, who was the runner-up in last year’s presidential election, is accused of insurrection and rebellion, and could face the death penalty. Kamto arrived in court on Friday under tight security. The trial venue was protected by 200 police officers in anti-riot gear, while others patrolled the area in pick-up trucks. There had been calls from the opposition leader's followers for a protest rally outside the court. Kamto, together with several dozen of his political allies and supporters, faces charges of insurrection, hostility to the motherland and rebellion, crimes which, in theory at least, could carry the death penalty. The head of the opposition Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC) was arrested in January after months of peaceful opposition protests denouncing the results of the October 2018 presidential election. ...

Boko Haram militants A series of death sentences Boko Haram insurgents for their roles in the deadly attacks that have claimed thousands of civilians have been hailed in Cameroon as a breakthrough. However, experts warn this could rebound badly in the wake of suggestions the Nigerian Islamic militant sect could carry out reprisal attacks. Recently, Cameroon sentenced to death more than 80 Boko Haram insurgents for carrying out attacks in the country's Far North Region. A military court in this region worst hit by the insurgency by the sect imposed capital punishment on the 89 terrorists after finding them guilty of crimes against humanity. The judgment handed down on March 18 marked the most extreme implementation of a controversial anti-terrorism law President Paul Biya promulgated in December 2014 in reaction to the merciless attacks the Boko Haram carried out in the central African country. The law specifies terrorist crimes as "actions likely to ca...

Boko Haram militants Military magistrate: Judgment not subject to appeal YAOUNDE, Cameroon (CNN) —A military court in Cameroon this week sentenced 89 Boko Haram insurgents to death for their roles in terror attacks in the country's Far North Region. The judgment handed down Wednesday marks the most extreme implementation of a controversial anti-terrorism law promulgated by President Paul Biya in December 2014. It prescribes the death penalty for "any activity which can lead to a general revolt of the population or disturb the normal functioning of the country" and for "anyone who supplies arms, war equipment, bacteria and viruses with the intention of killing." The death penalty also applies for people found guilty of kidnapping with terrorist intent, as well as for "anyone who directly or indirectly finances acts of terrorism" and for "anyone who recruits citizens with the aim of carrying out acts of terrorism." The law ...

Lawmakers in Cameroon, which is battling to stop the advance of Nigerian Boko Haram militants on its territory, will vote in the coming days on whether to impose the death penalty on those found guilty of involvement in acts of terrorism. Opposition figures accused the government of seeking to use the proposed law, which they say is too broad in scope, to criminalize opposition to President Paul Biya's 32-year rule. Boko Haram fighters have made repeated incursions into the rugged Far North region of Cameroon in recent months. They have clashed with Cameroonian soldiers sent to the border to stop them and are blamed for dozens of deaths and kidnappings there. Cameroonian officials also fear the Islamist group is targeting young men in the impoverished north for recruitment. "The draft law provides the ultimate penalty, the death penalty, for anyone who personally, in complicity or under coercion commits a terrorist act," Parliament Speaker Cavaye Yeguie...

2012 Gay Pride in Uganda: Risking one's life Homophobia, including verbal harassment, physical attacks and even murder, has risen to “dangerous” levels across sub-Saharan Africa, warned a report from human rights campaigner group Amnesty International. In a document entitled, “Making Love a Crime: Criminalization of same-sex conduct in sub-Saharan Africa,” Amnesty detailed how laws in many African countries have increased the penalties for same-sex activity, up to and including the introduction of the death penalty. Homosexuality is currently considered a criminal offense in 38 African nations. Over the past five years, the governments of South Sudan and Burundi have enacted new laws criminalizing homosexual conduct, while Uganda, Liberia and Nigeria have proposed harsher punishments against gays and lesbians. “These attacks -- sometimes deadly -- must be stopped,” said Widney Brown, Amnesty International’s senior director of Law and Policy in a statement. “No one sh...

The Supreme Court has ruled that two gay men from Iran and Cameroon have the right to asylum in the UK. The pair took their cases to the court after being told by the Home Office they could safely return home if they were "discreet" about their sexual orientation. The Cameroonian man, HT, argued he was told he could be sent home despite being attacked after he was seen kissing his partner. The Iranian man, HJ, was told by a tribunal that he must expect persecution for his homosexuality and could avoid it by being discreet. Lord Hope, who read out the judgment, said: "To compel a homosexual person to pretend that his sexuality does not exist or suppress the behaviour by which to manifest itself is to deny him the fundamental right to be who he is." An earlier Court of Appeal decision said the government could return the pair to their home countries on the basis that they could be discreet, despite homosexuality being illegal in both countries and HT suffering vi...