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Gay News: The Malawi couple sentenced to fourteen years' hard labour for being gay have been freed and given a Presidential pardon.
By: Nigel Robinson
Steven and Tiwonge have been freed
Steven and Tiwonge have been freed
Malawi couple freed and pardoned
Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga who were sentenced to fourteen years' hard labour for being gay have been freed by a Presidential pardon after Malawi’s President Bingu wa Mutharika met UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
The men were released on Saturday night 29 May but according to some reports they have not been reunited but instead have been sent home to their respective villages.
They have not met since their release and reports say that they do not want to talk about their experience in jail.
The President said that the men were released on humanitarian grounds, but he also reiterated the fact that homosexual acts remain illegal in Malawi.
The original sentence was greeted with worldwide condemnation and the new move has been welcomed by human rights organisations and the White House.
However it is unclear when, and if, the two men will be reunited and the brother-in-law of Tiwonge Chimbalanga told Associated Press that the whereabouts of the two men are currently unknown.
"We heard that they were released but we don't know where they are," he told the news agency.
"They are neither at their home in or their villages. But I know they are keeping a low profile deliberately because of the sensitivity of their case."
