President quick to overturn ban on gay acts

 

Saturday 19 May 2012

Print
A A A
Related articles
Suggested Topics

The new President, Joyce Banda, has vowed to repeal a ban on homosexual acts.

Malawi faced international condemnation in 2010 for the conviction and 14-year prison sentences given to two men who were arrested after celebrating their engagement and were charged with unnatural acts and gross indecency.

The previous President, Bingu wa Mutharika, who died in office in April, pardoned the couple. But he said it was on "humanitarian grounds only" and insisted they had "committed a crime against our culture, against our religion, and against our laws".

Ms Banda's announcement in her first state of the nation address is one of several steps she has taken to break with the administration of her predecessor.

AP

Top stories

Hunt vows to name and shame staff responsible for NHS baby deaths cover-up

Serena Williams: 'Do you think it was fair, what they got?'

Serena Williams apologises after saying rape victim 'shouldn't have
put herself in
that position'

News in pictures
World news in pictures
UK news in pictures
UK news in pictures
More stories
Charlie Sheen and Selma Blair together in 2012

Anger Management? Charlie Sheen fires
co-star Selma Blair with expletive-filled text

Tom Odell

Tom Odell's dad phones NME over 'shameless' 0/10 album review

Miss Utah, Marissa Powell, lets rip about corporate sexism during Sunday's pageant

It's been good week for terrible interviews

       
Independent
Travel Shop
Lake Como and the Bernina Express
Seven nights half-board from £749pp Find out more
Dubrovnik and the Dalmatian coast
Seven nights half-board from only £859pp Find out more
Prague city break
 Three nights from only £199pp Find out more
SPONSORED FEATURES

How will you make today delicious?

Tell us how you plan to make today delicious and you could win a £50 M&S gift card.

Nook Get reading Prizes & offers
Business videos

Win a Nook® Simple Touch eReader

Find out how Nook® is supporting the Evening Standard's Get Reading campaign - and your chance to win one.

M&S prizes Get reading Prizes & offers
Business videos

Free reading festival for families

Follow The Standard's campaign to get London's children reading - and experience this unique event at Trafalgar Square on 13 July.

M&S prizes Nook Prizes & offers
Business videos

Enter the latest Independent competitions

Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.

M&S prizes Nook Get reading
Business videos

Business videos from commercial thought leaders

Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.

M&S prizes Nook Get reading
Prizes & offers
 
Independent Dating
and  

By clicking 'Search' you
are agreeing to our
Terms of Use.

iJobs Job Widget
iJobs General

FX Options Front Office Java / C# Developer

£500 - £600 per day: Orgtel: FX Options Front Office Java / C# Developer - Ba...

Project Manager - Front Office - Regulatory IT

£600 - £700 per day: Orgtel: Project Manager - Front Office - Regulatory IT C...

Lighting Design Engineer

£33000 - £35000 Per Annum: The Green Recruitment Company: The Green Recruitmen...

Are you an Primary NQT looking for your first role in Essex?

£21000 - £22000 per annum: Randstad Education Chelmsford: NQTs required now fo...

View the latest from iJobs

Day In a Page

'To farm I have to rape the countryside. It’s got to be wrong': The true effect of the badger cull

The true effect of the badger cull

'To farm I have to rape the countryside. It’s got to be wrong'
Theatre review: Daniel Radcliffe gives an admirably honest performance in Michael Grandage's The Cripple of Inishmaan

First night: The Cripple of Inishmaan

Daniel Radcliffe gives an admirably honest performance in Michael Grandage's comedy
Girls Guides drop religious reference but pledge to self and the Queen

Guides drop religious reference but pledge to self and the Queen

After 103 years, organisation changes oath to welcome 'all girls, of all faiths, and none'
Steve Tongue: Joe Kinnear was one of the boys and a breath of fresh air... 21 years ago

Steve Tongue

Joe Kinnear was one of the boys and a breath of fresh air... 21 years ago
Chris Froome: Free from 'pain in neck' after Bradley Wiggins' exit

Chris Froome: Free from 'pain in neck' after Wiggins' exit

Sky's lead rider says he is in fantastic form for the Tour and happy pecking order debate is over
Hannah England: I've got the right times – now to focus on the chess

Hannah England: Keeping Track

I've got the right times – now to focus on the chess
Beards, brawn and body art

Beards, brawn and body art

Meet London’s new batch of male models
Scandi-geeks descend on Nordicana for fan-convention

Scandi-geeks descend on Nordicana for fan-convention

British love of shows such as The Bridge, Borgen and The Killing shows no sign of fading
Behind the rhetoric what is really being done to combat desertification?

The Great Green Wall of Africa,

Behind the rhetoric what is really being done to combat desertification?
Laughter Inc: the cheering growth of the chuckle industry

Laughter Inc

The cheering growth of the chuckle industry
The bad science scandal: how fact-fabrication is damaging UK's global name for research

The bad science scandal

How fact-fabrication is damaging UK's global name for research
To the manor born: The female aristocrats battling to inherit the title

Female aristocrats battle to inherit the title

A passionate protest is gathering pace among the women of Britain's aristocracy, who believe that men should no longer automatically inherit the family pile and title.
Love struck: Photographs of JFK's visit to Berlin 50 years ago reveal a nation instantly smitten

In pictures: JFK's visit to Berlin in 1963

Photographer Ulrich Mack accompanied Kennedy on the entire trip. The results are an astonishing record of a watershed moment.
Eat shoots and leaves: Mark Hix gets creative with fresh peas, mangetouts and sugar snaps

Mark Hix gets creative with English peas

English peas and their offsprings, such as mangetouts and sugar snaps, are great tossed into a salad, says our chef.
Ceviche with a smile: Chef Martin Morales has turned South America's elegant cuisine into one of London's hottest food trends

Chef Martin Morales: Ceviche with a smile

Morales has turned South America's elegant cuisine into one of London's hottest food trends