Following Public Outcry, Malawi’s president released a gay Malawian couple who had been sentenced to 14 years in prison after becoming engaged in the southern African country.
Same-sex relationships are a crime in Malawi, and in 36 other African countries. President Bingu wa Mutharika reminded the country of that fact. “These boys committed a crime against our culture, against our religion, and against our laws,” he said, as reported in the Toronto Star. “However, as head of state, I hereby pardon them.”
Rev. Levi Nyondo, general secretary of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian, Livingstonia Synod, previously told Ecumenical News International that the church was “happy” the men had been sentenced to jail.
The Presbyterian Church in Canada has close ties to Malawi’s Presbyterian Church.
— ENI and Toronto Star
