Arrested, abused and accused: wave of repression targets LGBT+ Ghanaians

Opening of community space in Accra, which was quickly shut, has been the trigger for new anti-LGBT+ action

All I wanted to do was help vulnerable people," said Shaun Apong, tears streaking down his face, from behind the bars of a squalid police cell in Ho City in eastern Ghana.

Apong was one of 21 people arrested in early June, charged with unlawful assembly and accused of spreading an LGBT+ agenda, amid a marked and sudden increase in sensitivities around the rights and advocacy of gay and queer people in the west African country.