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Gay Couple Convicted in Malawi
A gay couple in Malawi were found guilty on Tuesday of unnatural acts and gross indecency, the consequence of their holding an engagement ceremony in an insular nation where homosexuality is largely seen as nonexistent or something that must be suppressed.
Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 33, and Steven Monjeza, 26, face up to 14 years in prison. A magistrate said he would sentence the men on Thursday.
The case has drawn worldwide attention as another example of the broad anti-gay sentiment in Africa. A law recently proposed in Uganda calling for homosexuals to be executed in some cases stirred so much ire in the West that a presidential committee recommended withdrawing it from Parliament.
Malawi, a deeply impoverished, landlocked nation of 14 million, has also received international condemnation for prosecuting the two gay men. But most of its leaders — political and religious — have reacted with defiance. Last month, President Bingu wa Mutharika was quoted as calling homosexuality “evil and bad before the eyes of God” and an act “we Malawians just do not do.”
Magistrate Nyakwawa Usiwa Usiwa, in delivering Tuesday’s judgment in a small courtroom in Blantyre, the country’s commercial capital, was similarly stern. He referred to the crime as “buggery,” using language from when Malawi was a British colony and the current law was written.
He found both men guilty of “carnal knowledge” that was “against the order of nature.” He said the two had been “living together as husband and wife,” which “transgresses the Malawian recognized standards of propriety.”
Has this turned into the Gay Section of the boards? :lol:
Sounds fair to me. Time to cover them in car tyres and set them alight.
A judge in Malawi has imposed a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison with hard labour on a gay couple convicted of gross indecency and unnatural acts.
The judge said he wanted to protect the public from “people like you”.
Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, have been in jail since they were arrested in December after holding an engagement ceremony.
The case has sparked international condemnation and a debate about homosexuality in the country.
The British government, Malawi’s largest donor, expressed its “dismay” at the sentences, but has not withdrawn aid.
The US state department, meanwhile, said the case was “a step backwards in the protection of human rights in Malawi”.
Judge Nyakwawa Usiwa-Usiwa described the actions by Malawi’s first openly gay couple as an affront on Malawi’s moral code.
The courtroom was packed and hundreds more people stood outside, peering through windows.
The case has ignited debate over homosexuality in Malawi, a conservative country where religious leaders equate same-sex liaisons with Satanism.
But the impoverished southern African nation has come under pressure from Western donor nations and agencies. They have cautioned Malawi to tread carefully over rights of minority groups, such as homosexuals, or risk being black-listed on governance issues, which may have aid implications.
But despite the outcry, the authorities won’t budge. President Bingu wa Mutharika dismisses homosexuality as alien.
Handing down sentence in the commercial capital, Blantyre, Judge Nyakwawa Usiwa-Usiwa told the pair: “I will give you a scaring sentence so that the public be protected from people like you, so that we are not tempted to emulate this horrendous example.”Does the judge remind you of anyone ?
The British government, Malawi’s largest donor, expressed its “dismay” at the sentences, but has not withdrawn aid.
Big wheels keep on turning 8)The US state department, meanwhile, said the case was “a step backwards in the protection of human rights in Malawi”. <<< Funniest thing ive heard today
:lol:
Does the judge remind you of anyone ?
nick the glass eye griffin ? :lol:
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