Blantrye: A Malawi court on Thursday sentenced a gay couple who staged an illegal same sex wedding to 14 years in prison with hard labour.
Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza were arrested on December 28 following a symbolic wedding and have been in jail ever since.
Homosexuality is illegal in Malawi and in several other African countries.
"I sentence you to 14 years imprisonment with hard labour each. That's the maximum under the penal code," said magistrate Nyakwawa Usiwa Usiwa.
"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," added the judge.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, May 20, 2010, 15:04