An appeals court in Cameroon has upheld a three-year sentence against a man found guilty of ‘homosexuality’ for sending a text message to another man saying: ‘I’m very much in love with you’.

Activists said that today’s court’s ruling in Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital, is a major setback in a country seen as one of the the most repressive in Africa towards LGBT people.

Jean-Claude Roger Mbédé, 32 year-old university student, had been provisionally released on bail in July after serving a year and a half in prison.

In September this year launched an appeal against the court ruling only to have it rejected today (17 December).

His lawyers have now ten days to file an appeal to the country’s supreme court.

Holding back tears on today (17 December), Mbédé told the Associated Press by telephone: ‘I am going back to the dismal conditions that got me critically ill before I was temporarily released for medical reasons.

‘I am not sure I can put up with the anti-gay attacks and harassment I underwent at the hands of fellow inmates and prison authorities on account of my perceived and unproven sexual orientation. The justice system in this country is just so unfair’.

Mbédé’s provisional release earlier this year followed pressure from rights activists over his deteriorating health aggravated by malnutrition and repeated assaults.

Quoted in the British daily The Guardian, Neela Ghoshal, a researcher in the LGBT rights programme at Human Rights Watch, stated: ‘It’s the country that arrests, prosecutes and convicts more people than any other country that we know of in Africa for consensual same-sex adult conduct.

‘In most of these cases there is little or no evidence. Usually people are convicted on the basis of allegations or denunciations from people who have claimed to law enforcement officials that they are gay’.

She said many suspects were tortured or otherwise treated poorly in custody until they gave confessions, which were then used as evidence against them.

In October, two men were convicted of homosexuality because of their ‘effeminate’ appearance and because they were drinking Bailey’s Irish Cream, which is viewed as a ‘gay drink’.

Andre Banks, executive director of All Out, said Mbédé is now in significant danger because of the homophobic attention the case has received.

‘Roger said he had to leave the university where he was studying because of the attention from the case and because of the mounting threats and fear of violence that have been very concerning to him’.

‘He’s worried that he won’t be able to have a normal life in Cameroon because of the amount of attention it’s brought to him’.

Mbédé’s lawyer, Alice Nkom, had received death threats for defending the student and supporting LGBT rights.

A text message sent in October to Yaoundé-based lawyer Michel Togue, who has also defended people accused of homosexuality, similarly threatened his children.

Attached to the message were photos of the children leaving school.

Last month, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights spokesperson, Rupert Colville, blasted Cameroon for its mistreatment of LGBT people, citing the case of Mbédé: ‘Laws that target people because of their sexual orientation are discriminatory … we strongly oppose them and we obviously try and convince governments that have such laws to change them.

‘Many governments have had these kinds of laws and have changed them over the years so we hope Cameroon will do [so] as well.’

Being LGBT carries huge risks in Cameroon; same-sex sexual acts are illegal under section 347 of the penal code with a penalty of five years imprisonment including a hefty fine. If the offender is under the age of 21 a more severe punishment is likely.

In 2010 four NGOs published a detailed report indicating that Cameroon is one of the most hostile countries in Africa for LGBT people.