Homosexuality is banned in many African countries Human rights groups have called for homosexuality charges to be dropped against two men in Cameroon due to stand trial on Thursday.
The men were arrested last month because they looked feminine, their lawyer Alice Nkom told the BBC.Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said the men should be freed from prison, rather than put on trial.
Homosexuality is illegal in Cameroon and carries a jail sentence of up to five years.
Ms Nkom said police arrested the men - aged 19 and 20 - outside a nightclub in the capital, Yaounde.
They were accused of homosexuality because their hair was "dressed like women", she said.
'Beaten up'
"This is a crime of fashion, not homosexuality," Ms Nkom told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
"I don't know how the prosecutor will bring evidence that they are homosexuals."
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End Quote Alice Nkom Human rights LawyerSometimes they [the authorities] send a doctor to check your anus”
Human Rights Watch spokesperson Dipika Nath said Cameroon was sending a "frightening message" that people could be "tortured and jailed just because of the way they look".
Amnesty's Africa programme director Erwin van der Borght said the homosexuality law was draconian and discriminatory and should be scrapped. "By arresting people purely because of their alleged sexual orientation, the Cameroonian government is flagrantly violating international human rights treaties which it has signed or ratified," he said.
Ms Nkom said the men would plead not guilty when they appeared in court.
This was despite a confession to police that they were homosexuals, she said.
They made the confession because they were beaten up and jailed, Ms Nkom said.
"You never have a fair trial in Cameroon concerning homosexuality," she said.
"Sometimes they [the authorities] send a doctor to check your anus. This is humiliation and an act of torture."
Homophobia is widespread in Cameroon, like in most other African countries, analysts say.
In March, a Cameroonian man, Jean-Claude Roger Mbede, was jailed for three years for homosexuality.
It regarded him as a prisoner of conscience, Amnesty said.
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