A gay couple in Malawi, praised for their courage in holding an engagement celebration in a deeply conservative society, are now facing a potential 14-year prison sentence after being found guilty of “unnatural acts” and “gross indecency.”
The verdict has sparked a wave of condemnation from around the world. Amnesty International said the two men are prisoners of conscience and should be immediately released. Human rights groups in South Africa are planning to picket the embassy of Malawi.
The verdict was issued just days after Prime Minister Stephen Harper invited the president of Malawi to attend the G20 summit in Toronto next month. The president, Bingo wa Mutharika, has denounced homosexuality as “evil and bad before the eyes of God.”
The Malawi case has drawn attention to the widespread persecution of gays in Africa, where homosexuality is illegal in at least 38 countries. In one of the most extreme cases, Ugandan politicians are trying to introduce a new law that could impose the death penalty or life imprisonment for homosexuals.
In the court in Malawi’s commercial capital of Blantyre on Tuesday, the judge was stern and disapproving. Judge Nyakwawa Usiwa Usiwa said the gay couple were guilty of “carnal knowledge” that was “against the order of nature.”
The two men, 33-year-old hotel housekeeper Tiwonge Chimbalanga and 26-year-old Steven Monjeza, were arrested last December, shortly after they held a symbolic wedding as a public celebration of their partnership. Gay activists said they were courageous to hold their ceremony in public, since intolerance in Malawi is so widespread.
The prosecutor, Barbara Mchenga, said the actions of the gay couple had “left a scar on Malawi’s morality.” She said the two men were unrepentant and “seem to have been very proud of their action.”
Hundreds of spectators gathered at the court building to hear the verdict, and some taunted the gay couple as they were taken from the building. Police have handcuffed the couple in some of their public appearances.
The judge will announce the sentencing on Thursday. Under national laws dating back to the colonial era, a prison sentence of up to 14 years can be imposed on the two men.
A recent opinion poll across the continent found that the vast majority of Africans – up to 98 per cent in some countries – believe that homosexuality is “morally wrong.” Conservative religious groups, including Western missionaries and evangelical leaders, are highly influential in most African countries.
After the verdict was announced on Tuesday, the protests soon erupted. “Being in a relationship should not be a crime,” said Michelle Kagari, deputy Africa director at Amnesty, in a statement after the verdict. “No one should be arrested and detained solely on the basis of their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.”
The two men were beaten by police while in custody, and Mr. Chimbalanga was subjected to forcible anal examinations, Amnesty said. “Such an examination, performed without consent, contravenes the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment,” the Amnesty statement said.
In South Africa, the only African country where gays are given legal protection, a coalition of rights organizations said the verdict in Malawi was “a gross violation of human rights” and should be immediately overturned.
“Unjust, obsolete homophobic laws are retarding social progress and need to be repealed,” the coalition said. It called on South Africa to offer asylum to the gay couple.
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