Shakiro and Patricia were just having dinner at a restaurant in Douala, Cameroon.
There was no sexual act, no scene, nothing to prove. Even so, the police arrested them on 8 February 2021 for wearing women’s clothing, and three months later a court sentenced them to five years in prison on the charge of ‘attempted homosexuality’. Shakiro, 23, was already known on social media for speaking openly about her identity; Patricia, 27, was her friend. They also had to pay a fine of 370 dollars each, with the threat of adding another year in prison if they were unable to raise the money.
‘It is a hammer blow. The message is clear: homosexuals have no place in Cameroon,’ said their lawyer Alice Nkom. Cameroon is one of the 31 African countries that criminalize same-sex relations, and years later Shakiro revealed that she suffered abuse in prison that ultimately forced her to flee her own country.
