Two men in Cameroon were sentenced to five years jail-time for the suspicion of being gay and International gay rights groups are in an uproar.

Coming just one week after Roger Jean-Claude Mbédé was sentenced to 3 years prison for sending a text message to another man which said: ‘I’m very much in love with you’.  Franky Djome and Jonas Singa Kumie received a five-year prison sentence for being ‘perceived’ as gay , the highest possible sentence by a Cameroon judge because their vocabulary was “feminine”, because they drank a beverage that’s perceived to be something gay men drink, and because the clothes they were wearing were not masculine enough’,

Andre Banks, Executive Director of AllOut.org said: ‘“The cases of Franky, Jonas, and Roger are not isolated incidents — these are systematic violations of the most basic human rights.

Homosexual activity both male and female is illegal in Cameroon, under Section 347, with a penalty of five years in prison and a fine.

In 2011 alone, over a dozen men were arrested under Section 347, solely on the suspicion of being gay.