LILONGWE, May 20 (Reuters) - 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.
"This is the first case of its kind in Malawi … this is the worst case of its kind," he added.
Dozens of people packed the court to hear the sentencing. Police closed roads around the building and a nearby bank was closed as more than a thousand people descended on the court.
Tiwonge was calm as the judge pronounced the sentence, which includes hard labour, but Monjeza was visibly shaking at the prospect of going to jail. Police whisked the two away in armed vehicles shortly after the sentencing.
Rights group Amnesty International on Tuesday called for the immediate and unconditional release of the couple, saying their human rights have been flagrantly violated.
Homosexuality in Africa has become a contentious issue in recent months after a Ugandan lawmaker proposed a bill including the death penalty for some acts, the arrest of the Malawian couple, and a police raid on a gay wedding in Kenya earlier this year.
