Malawi gay couple, charged with sodomy and indecency, is sentenced to 14 years in jail, with hard labour. Tara Cleary reports.
LILONGWE - A Malawi gay couple was sentenced to 14 years in jail on Thursday after being found guilty of sodomy and indecency earlier this week in a trial viewed as a test case for gay rights in the country. The couple, Steven Monjeza, 26, and 20-year-old Tiwonge Chimbalanga, were arrested after they got engaged in a traditional ceremony in late December.
"I sentence these two ... to a maximum sentence because I want us to stop Malawian sons and daughters from copying the same sex marriages which are un-Malawian and not in our culture and religious beliefs," Chief Resident Magistrate Nyakwawa Uisiwausiwa said.
Rights group Amnesty International on Tuesday called for the immediate and unconditional release of the couple saying their human rights have been flagrantly violated. (Reporting by Mabvuto Banda; Writing by Marius Bosch; Editing by Louise Ireland)
