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Malawi Court Keeps Same-Sex Couple in Jail, Pending Verdict
01 Feb 2010-
Malawi- A high court judge’s denial of bail to Malawi’s first openly gay couple
as their trial in Blantyre enters its final phase continues to draw
international attention from gay rights advocates. Homosexuality is illegal in
Malawi, and the couple, Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, who
staged a traditional wedding ceremony in December, could face up to 14 years in
jail if convicted “Malawi has its own values and structures, which should be
respected. So we don’t necessarily expect MPs from Britain or anywhere else to
dictate to Malawi on what they should do,” he said.
Mzungu contends that strongly rooted nationwide opposition to same-sex weddings
is not easily abandoned, even in a democracy like Malawi.
“Almost every religion is against homosexuality, so it’s just a very small
minority group that wants homosexuality to be passed or like to accept
homosexuality in Malawi. But almost everybody is against homosexuality,” he
notes.
The two defendants have three attorneys, backing from international gay rights
organizers and at least three Malawian NGO’s, including the Centre for
Development of People (CEDEP). But Mzungu says his travels across the country
register very little public support for legislation to decriminalize the
offense.
“Just last week on Friday, I was in Mwanza, a certain district in the southern
region again. I was talking to different people, including the traditional
leaders, the common people. I was asking them if maybe they would like a
homosexuality law to be passed in the constitution of Malawi. But they seem to
be against that law. They don’t want Malawi to allow homosexuality,” he said.
CEDEP itself has been hard-pressed by
government and religious leaders of Malawi’s many religious denominations, which
include Christians, Moslems, and Hindus during the trial. A political
controversy arose last month over whether the organization’s director Gift
Trapence and three human rights defenders were ordered into police custody for
playing a role in defense of the same-sex defendants.
Malawi police deny the activists were arrested. Mzungu explains one incident in
early January which the British rights defender Outrage! claims involved an
arrest on trumped up charges of pornography contained in the safe-sex HIV
educational materials that were being distributed by CEDEP.
“The police spokesperson for the southern region in Malawi told me that it is
true that the police went to the office of CEDEP, but they didn’t arrest anybody
apart from just impounding or confiscating some materials which were
pornographic, but they didn’t arrest anybody,” he reports.
Rights groups contend the prosecution of the newlywed couple runs contrary to
section 20 of the Malawi constitution, which outlaws discrimination, and
contravenes equal treatment tenets of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’
Rights, which the Lilongwe government has endorsed. However, reporter Mzungu
says that the international criticism has succeeded in generating a backlash
push for Malawi to enact even tougher penalties for those convicted of illicit
homosexuality.
“On Friday, the members of parliament were meeting in Lilongwe where one of the
members of parliament criticized the NGO’s -- most local and international NGO’s,
which are pushing the members of parliament to amend the constitution section
which talks against homosexuality. It means that the members of parliament too
are not happy with what these two gay people have done in Malawi,” he explains.
Although stiffer penalties could mean longer jail sentences, the Daily Times
journalist concedes that a high incidence of homosexuality in Malawi prisons may
ultimately deter the harsher fines.
The defendants are next due to appear in court on February 9. That’s just ten
days after the country’s president Bingu Wa Mutharika took over the leadership
of the continent-wide African Union. Watipaso Mzungu says that until now, Mr.
Mutharika has been careful to avoid speaking out on the case.
“As of now, the president has said nothing. But the minister of information and
civic education, Honorable Leckford Mwanza Thotho, has always told the media
that government will not interfere and will not allow to be pushed around by
foreign NGO’s to pass the law to allow homosexuality in Malawi. That’s the
government stand,” he insisted.
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