This image representing Yane and Hage in Ebolowa Prison was used in May as part of a solicitation seeking readers’ donations to Project Not Alone. (Image generated by DeepAI)
By Steeves Winner
After six months without a trial, the young imprisoned lesbian couple Yane and Hage were set free through the intervention of Project Not Alone.
That initiative, supported by readers’ donations and a grant from the Attitude Foundation, feeds and frees innocent victims of anti-homosexuality laws in Cameroon and Nigeria.
The couple (identified here by pseudonyms for their safety) had lived peacefully in their studio apartment in Ebolowa, Cameroon, until one day in January when Yane rebuffed an advance from a horny neighbor.
Hage, age 24, worked online. Yane, age 25, was unemployed.
When their neighbor made sexual propositions to her, Yane lost her temper, called him a “poor guy” and made clear that she wasn’t interested. Insulted, he decided to get his revenge on her. He tried to learn whatever he could about her and Hage.
Within a couple of weeks, he had discovered that they were a lesbian couple, a revelation that he shared with other neighbors, including a police officer. The police arrested Hage and Yane on suspicion of homosexuality after observing that many masculine-looking women visited their home.
The couple was held at the police station for two days, then were referred to the public prosecutor’s office and then to prison.
As police investigated, they found love notes and sexual propositions on the women’s phones. Those led the public prosecutor to charge them with violating Article 83 of Cameroon’s 2010 law on cybercrime and cybersecurity, which prohibits the use of telecommunication devices for arranging intimate same-sex encounters. Assuming that sexual relations occurred, the punishment provided in that law is a fine of 500,000 to 1 million CFA francs (about U.S. $816 to $1,632) and/or a prison sentence of two to four years.
That punishment is harsher than the six-month sentence that is typically imposed on people who are convicted of violating Cameroon’s basic anti-homosexuality law (Article 347-1 of the Penal Code). That law against consensual same-sex sexual activity provides for sentences of six months to five years and/or fines of 20,000 to 200,000 CFA francs (about U.S. $33 to $330).
Hage and Yane had no lawyer, so they could do nothing but wait for the Cameroonian justice system to remember them and schedule a trial.
As imprisoned lesbians, they had no support from their families, so they were desperate for food, which prison authorities typically provide in minimal amounts.
Food that Project Not Alone delivered to prisoners in Ebolowa Prison in Cameroon.
Project Not Alone made a delivery of rice, pasta, oil, chocolate, butter, toiletry items and antiseptic soap to them in prison.
They were identified by Project Not Alone as two of the 10 innocent LGBTQ prisoners eligible for the project’s help in 2024 — assuming that readers’ donations were adequate to pay for food deliveries, fines and the expenses of lawyers working pro bono on their behalf.
By July, Hage and Yane still had not gone to trial. It seemed that they might end up in prison for four years if, between the two of them, they could not pay the maximum fine of 2,000,000 CFA francs (about U.S. $3,264).
At the time, Project Not Alone had managed to set free seven of the year’s 10 LGBTQ prisoners and made arrangements for the liberation of the eighth. To accomplish that, Project Not Alone had spent all but $714 (about 430,000 CFA francs) of donated funds.
The judge handling Hage and Yane’s case refused to switch the charge to a violation of Article 347-1, which would have decreased the fine. In the end they were sentenced to pay a combined 1,200,000 CFA francs (about US $1,959) and incarceration for the six months they had already spent in prison.
In early August, a generous donation arrived from the Attitude Foundation, which made it possible to pay that fine.
Yane and Hage were set free on Aug. 12.
After their release, Yane and Hage pose for photos but hide their faces in order to avoid anti-lesbian violence. (Photo by Steeves Winner)
This article would have been published sooner, except that we lost touch with Yane and Hage for a while.
When they were released, they went to live in an unoccupied house owned by Hage’s grandmother in a small town outside Ebolowa.
“Thank you for all your efforts,” Yane said in a recent interview. “We are starting a new life and it is not easy for us after this trauma.”
Hage added, “We especially feel a lot of gratitude for the support received from strangers. Cameroon is a very complex country where we cannot freely live our love. I ask you to continue your work and especially remove all these barriers that exist so that we are all fulfilled.”
“We have decided to live together even if the context is difficult in Cameroon,” she said.
They hope to raise money that will allow them to open a small restaurant. To donate to Project Not Alone to help them and other victims of African homophobia, click HERE (The U.S. tax-deductible donation will be made via PayPal and the St. Paul’s Foundation.)
Logo of Project Not Alone (Otavio Zuni illustration courtesy of the artist)
Steeves Winner, the author of this article, is a Cameroonian journalist who writes under a pseudonym. Contact him at [email protected].
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