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Total News: 61

Malawi: United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention

13th December 2010
SALC will be submitting four cases to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD)....
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Malawi: Homosexuality crucial to Malawi’s HIV/AIDS fight -Veep

29th September 2010
Malawi’s Vice president, Joyce Banda, has urged the faith leaders to open up on same sex partners in order for the country to make significant strides in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
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Malawi: Buying, selling sex not illegal in Malawi –lawyer

8th September 2010
A lawyer and women’s activist, Seodi White says the country’s laws do not criminalise selling and buying sex.
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Malawi: MISA-Malawi dresses down Mutharika on media threats

1st September 2010
The Malawi Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) has condemned President Bingu wa Mutharika for taking a direction towards oppressing the media in the country.
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SALC in the News: African Civil Society Organisations Condemn Criminal Prosecution in Malawi Same-Sex Case and Call for Repeal of Discriminatory Laws and Dismissal of Charges

28th January 2010
Over forty African civil society organizations, in a statement released today, expressed their deep concern at the imprisonment and prosecution of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga under provisions of Malawi's penal code criminalizing private sexual behavior. They called on the Malawian government to drop all charges against both individuals and repeal the discriminatory criminal law
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Malawi: Malawi man arrested for posters on gay rights

3rd February 2010
A man has been arrested for putting up posters championing gay rights, police said on Tuesday, adding they were searching for other Malawians they believe are working with foreigners in the campaign
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Malawi: Let’s not cash in on Aids patients

28th February 2010
That Malawi has been devastated by the HIV/Aids pandemic is no laughing matter but surprisingly, there are some people who want to cash in on the desperation by those living with HIV.
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Malawi: Malawi launches hunt for gays

28th February 2010
Blantyre - Police in Malawi said on Sunday they were hunting down key figures in the country's gay community after discovering "pornographic films" at the office of a rights group. "We are targeting some prominent personalities and our suspects include legislators, priests, academics and other professionals," police spokesperson Davie Chingwalu told AFP.
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Malawi: Malawi's Constitutional Court on Tuesday refused to hear the case of a gay couple arrested for

24th February 2010
Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza were arrested in late December and have been tried in a magistrate's court in this conservative Southern African country where homosexuality is illegal.
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Statement: Civil Society Organisations Call for the Repeal of Discriminatory Laws and the Dismissal of Charges in Malawi Same-Sex Case

28th January 2010
We, the undersigned organizations, write to express our deep concern at the imprisonment and prosecution of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga under provisions of Malawi’s penal code criminalizing private sexual behavior. We further call on Malawian authorities to drop all charges against both men and repeal sections 153 and 156 of the penal law.
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Malawi: Malawians Debate Legalizing Gay Marriage

19th February 2010
Rights campaigners say current laws against gays are a violation of human rights In late December, two gay men held an engagement ceremony – and were promptly arrested. The event prompted a public debate over the legalization of homosexuality. Sections 153 and 156 of the country’s penal code outlaw sexual intercourse between people of the same sex. But some human rights campaigners argue that the laws contravene the constitution and international conventions that guarantee equality and non-discrimination regardless of sexual orientation.
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SALC Briefing: Malawi’s Targeting of its LBGT Populations

19th March 2010
On 28 December 2009, police officers arrested Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, at their home charging them under sections 153 and 156 of the Penal Code for Malawi for carnal knowledge against the order of nature and gross indecency between males.
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Nyasa Times - Malawi prisoners starve as govt holds funding

27th January 2009
Hundreds of lives of inmates suffering from TB and those on ARVs at Maula Prison in Lilongwe hang in the balance as they can no longer have proper meals, Nyasa Times can confirm.....
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Breaking News: Malawi’s Constitutional Court Hands Down Evance Moyo Judgement

28th August 2009
Malawi’s Constitutional Court has determined that the imprisonment of Evance Moyo, a juvenile at the time of his arrest, alongside adult prisoners in Chichiri prison from 1997 onwards, violated Moyo’s constitutional and international law rights and ordered his immediate release. However the Court did not find that juvenile criminal sentences, served “at the pleasure of the President” are unconstitutional. The Court also declined to order compensation to Moyo.
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Malawi: MALAWI POLICE DEMAND HIV TESTS

12th October 2009
It was, Malawian police say, a routine sweep for criminals at one of the country’s busiest border posts. They were looking for criminals.
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Malawi: One half of Malawi gay couple 'moves in with a woman'

9th June 2010
The pair were convicted under a law dating back to British colonial rule A gay couple who were jailed in Malawi have split after one of them moved in with a woman, according to reports.
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Malawi: Picking Up the Pieces in Malawi

3rd June 2010
Before the outsized international human rights outcry. Before the world had even heard of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga. Before their chinkhoswe ceremony - akin to an engagement ceremony although more complex - landed these two in prison, then convicted for "indecent practices between males," and finally sentenced to 14 years of hard labor. Before the President of Malawi reluctantly pardoned the convicted parties. Before all of this, activists were acting up in Malawi.
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Malawi: Should police suspects reveal their HIV statuses when arrested?

22nd June 2010
Disclosure of one’s HIV and AIDS status in Malawi continues to be associated with high levels of stigma and discrimination, one of the most notorious abuses of human rights in regards to HIV and AIDS, but should police suspects reveal their status when arrested?
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Malawi: Malawi gay couple face full trial

22nd March 2010
A lawyer said the couple would now call defence witnesses. Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, and Steven Monjeza, 26, deny charges of gross indecency.
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Malawi: Malawi prisons ‘death trap’

8th May 2010
Malawi prisons are ‘death traps’ for inmates plagued by overcrowding, malnutrition and rampant disease and that prisoners continue to suffer conditions which are generally poor; in some cases these amount to deliberate cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
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Malawi: Gay couple sent to test waters, to hell with donors – Kaliati

27th April 2010
Arraigned gay couple Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza were sent by international homosexuality campaigners to taste the resolve of Malawi, Minister of Gender, Women and Children Affairs Patricia Kaliati has professed. “Those people were sent. And those people who sent them to do that were just tasting waters, they wanted to taste government,” said Kaliati on Capital Radio Straight Talk.
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Malawi: Date Set in Trial of Malawi Gay Couple

23rd March 2010
When 26-year-old Steven Monjeza and 20-year-old Tiwonge Chimbalanga celebrated an engagement ceremony in the African nation Malawi, it was symbolic of their love. But the legal ramifications that followed have been too severe, say critics of the way that the men were arrested under the country’s decency laws and kept confined for months in a maximum-security prison.
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Malawi: Detained gay couple to face trial in Malawi

24th March 2010
The two men were arrested in December at their home in Blantyre, Malawi, for professing love and marriage in the traditional way. Police discovered the couple when local newspapers reported on their engagement ceremony, known as a chinkhoswe. Now, Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga face up to 14 years in jail in a case that human rights activists say is a test case for gay rights, as well as one that could undermine efforts to curtail Malawi's devastating HIV infection rates.
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Malawi: Malawi President slams homosexuality

24th April 2010
President Bingu wa Mutharika has come out in the open to express disapproval of homosexuality in Malawi. The President commenting for the first time since the arrest and trial of gay couple, 26-year-old Steven Monjeza and 20-year-old Tiwonge Chimbalanga, said homosexuality was bizarre.
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Malawi: News Analysis: Malawi faces two choices in gay trial judgment: donor money or sovereignty

16th May 2010
The judgement for the gay couple Steve Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga will be delivered on Tuesday. Guilty or not guilty verdict, you can be sure of a series of conundrums. Nyasa Times news analyst gives some insights into this maze in brief.
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Malawi: It’s Tuesday, judgement day for Malawi gay couple

16th May 2010
The Blantyre Magistrates Court will on Tuesday deliver judgement in a case involving gay couple Tiwonge Chimbalanga and his partner Steven Monjeza. Chimbalanga, 20, and Monjeza, 26, made history when they tied the knot in a traditional chinkhoswe marriage ceremony in December. They became the first same-sex couple to do so in Malawi where homosexual acts are illegal.
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Malawi: Malawi gay couple appeal

25th May 2010
Lawyers for Malawi’s convicted first openly gay couple has said the pair has instructed him to appeal to the country’s High Court against the harsh sentence handed to them. Blantyre Chief Resident Magistrate Nyakwawa Usiwa Usiwa sentenced Steven Monjeza and his partner Tiwonge Chimbalanga to 14 years’ hard labor after they were convicted for homosexuality charges.
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Malawi: Malawi court convicts gay couple

18th May 2010
A court in Malawi has convicted a gay couple of gross indecency and unnatural acts. Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, were arrested in December 2009 after celebrating their engagement.
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Malawi: Gay couple lawyer mitigates for non-custodial sentence

18th May 2010
Lawyer of the gay couple, Steven Monjeza, 26 and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20 convicted for homosexuality, has asked the Blantyre Magistrates Court to mete a non-custodial sentence mitigating the two men were first offenders and their crimes did not victimise anybody.
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Press Release: African civil society outraged by harsh sentence and call for release of Malawi couple

20th May 2010
Jointly Issued by AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa, Southern Africa Litigation Centre, Centre for the Development of People and Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation African civil society groups, in a statement released today, called on Malawian authorities to repeal discriminatory laws criminalizing private sexual behavior, and release Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga. Monjeza and Chimbalanga were convicted of carnal knowledge against the order of nature and sentenced today to 14 years—the maximum penalty—in prison.
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