[2] On 2 March 2011, agents of Cameroon's Secretary of State for Defense (SED) security service arrested Mbede after he sent SMS messages arranging to meet a male acquaintance.
[2] Mbede was represented by Alice Nkom, a noted LGBT rights attorney and head of Cameroon's Association to Defend Homosexuals.
[5] Amnesty International also issued an alert on Mbede's behalf, with a spokesperson stating: "Locking someone up for their real or perceived sexual orientation is a flagrant breach of basic rights and should not be allowed under any country's penal code".
[1] Amnesty International's Africa Director Erwin var der Borght stated, "Jean-Claude Mbede is a prisoner of conscience held solely because of his perceived sexual orientation.
[8] 34 years old Mbede died on 10 January 2014 in his hometown Ngoumou after he left a hospital because he lacked money for continued medical care.