Alice Nkom, founder of Cameroon’s Association to Defend Homosexuals (ADEFHO), faces imminent arrest, The Huffington Post reports. Fears emerged after a spokesperson from the Ministry of Communication called her recent activity a crime against Cameroon’s law, sovereignty and independence, in an interview with French-language station Canal Plus.

The pronouncement came shortly after the prominent human rights lawyer received a 300,000 Euro grant from the European Union to fight homophobia in the country. In Cameroon, same-sex sexual activity is punishable by imprisonment, fines and the removal of child custody. LGBT people are also subject to social marginalisation and attack.

The EU grant, for the ADEFHO project “Support and training for sexual minorities”, has been denounced in some quarters as European interference with sovereign affairs. On 7 January, a representative for a coalition of youth organisations called on supporters to “track and denounce” LGBT Cameroonians, before demanding government action against the EU regarding the grant.

“We must remain vigilant for her safety,” says Charles Gueboguo, a gay history scholar and supporter of Ms Nkom. “She is the only lawyer operating in Cameroon who defends the rights of LGBT people, work that she does pro bono. Now her outspokenness has made her a challenge to the government’s homophobic policies, so they want to shut her up.”

Ms Nkom, who was arrested while visiting a gay client in prison in 2006, has responded to rumors in an email to LGBT rights activists in Cameroon: ” I believe I will be arrested in the coming days, but I will not lose sleep over this or, especially, abandon what we have begun together.”