Cameroonian gay asylum seeker’s repatriation delayed

Pressure from Amnesty International forced a u-turn in plans by Swiss immigration officials to deport the Cameroonian homosexual as announced last week

By Ntaryike Divine, Jr. in Douala

A self-proclaimed Cameroonian homosexual who saw his asylum-seeking dreams recently dampened is now guardedly smiling. Pressure from the human rights watchdog, Amnesty International, has partially paid off and 18-year-old Anatolie Zali’s application for refugee status in Switzerland will be reconsidered after an initial rejection last week.

Zali was listed for deportation by the Swiss Federal Migration Office on grounds that his request for asylum lacked convincing substantiation. Until last Wednesday, he was due deportation «anytime.» But thanks to scaled up mobilisation by Amnesty’s Swiss branch, the repatriation is on hold.

In all, 500 protest letters from local members were addressed to the immigration office demanding the respect of Zali’s rights. At term, immigration officials buckled and decided to re-examine his application file. Amnesty last week announced satisfaction with the Swiss immigration decision u-turn expressing the hope Zali will eventually be granted the «life-saving refugee status.»

Amnesty hinted that the Cameroonian gay initially met hurdles Poverty forced him to represent himself in the asylum proceedings that were initially rejected. Zali told Swiss immigration that he fled his native Cameroon from fear of a jail term of between six months and five years in the country where homosexuality is punishable by law. When news of his stalled asylum venture broke, he then said he risked even more torture and physical punishment from Cameroonian police if he were deported.

He said he had a cousin in Cameroon who had been arrested because of his alleged homosexuality, and then related how gay inmates were usually molested by guards and fellow prisoners in Cameroonian jails.