Gay Rights Activist Killed In Cameroon

Prominent Cameroonian gay rights activist and journalist Eric Lembembe has been killed in the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde, a rights group says.

Mr Lembembe’s neck and feet appeared to have been broken and his face, hands, and feet burned with an iron, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.

His friends discovered his body at his home in Yaounde on Monday, after being unable to reach him by phone for two days, it said.

The cause of the killing is not known, but Mr Lembembe is the latest activist to be targeted in Cameroon, it added.

Mr Lembembe, the executive director of the Cameroonian Foundation for Aids, was a courageous activist who campaigned for equal rights, despite severe discrimination and violence, HRW said.

Homosexual acts are illegal in socially conservative Cameroon.