Human Rights activists and diplomats the world over congratulated Malawi for saying this week that they suspended homophobic laws and stopped arresting people just for being gay.
“If we continue
arresting and prosecuting people based on the said laws and later such
laws are found to be unconstitutional it would be an embarrassment to
government,” Justice Minister Ralph Kasambara said, according to Reuters.
But now Kasambara's claiming he never said that. The LA Times reports that Kasambara told Malawi's Daily Times, “There was no such announcement and there was no discussion about
same-sex marriages. Nobody talked about suspension of any provision of the penal
code.”
So all that talk about Malawi leading the way on LGBT rights in Africa? Forget it. Instead remember that a Malawian gay couple were sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2010 – again, just for being gay. Their picture was run on the front of newspapers all across the country, as seen above.
