Malawian gay couple face jail

Lilongwe, 22 March-(ANA)-Two gay men face up to 14 years in jail with hard labour for organising a traditional civil marriage ceremony in Malawi, one of Africa’s most conservative states.

Steve Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, are virtually certain to receive custodial sentences at a magistrates’ court in Blantyre, despite pressure from supporters, who will be protesting outside the London offices of the Commonwealth.

They became the first homosexual couple to go public in a country where the gay movement is gaining in confidence, thanks to international backing, much to the dismay of conservatives, who see the development as a Western ploy to undermine national morals.

The men have little local support in what is one of Africa’s poorest states and a bastion of fundamentalist Christian belief. (ANA)

FA/ANA/22 March 2010-------