Saturday, May 29, 2010

Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza are Free


The Malawi President, Bingu wa Mutharika has stepped in and ended this mess with Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza.

He has pardoned them!

Mr wa Mutharika had been under international pressure to reconsider the convictions of Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20. They were arrested in December after they were united in a traditional wedding ceremony in the conservative southern African country, where homosexuality is illegal.

Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations Secretary General, met the Malawian president on Saturday in the capital Lilongwe.

Speaking shortly afterwards, Mr wa Mutharika said: "These boys committed a crime against our culture, our religion and our laws.

"However, as the head of state I hereby pardon them and therefore ask for their immediate release with no conditions."

He added: "I have done this on humanitarian grounds but this does not mean that I support this."

His decision will be seen as a victory by campaigners who had challenged the conviction and length of the sentence.

Mr Ban, who was due to address the National Assembly later, is expected to ask the legislators to change the laws on homosexuality.

Yes, Justice was done!

source

2 comments:

  1. Glad that shit got short-circuited.

    At last.

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  2. I hope they can somehow find a way out of that country and get to Europe or to the US. They will not have a moment's peace until they are out.

    ReplyDelete