Malawi puts 2 gay men on trial
Government rejects outside criticism of criminal case
BLANTYRE, Malawi — Malawi’s government said Monday that it is unmoved by international criticism of the trial of a gay couple charged with unnatural acts and gross indecency, felonies for which they could be imprisoned for up to 14 years.
In a statement Monday, Malawi Information Minister Leckford Mwanza Thoto made no apology for the laws that criminalize homosexual acts. He said Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga were “clearly breaking the laws of Malawi.”
“As government we cannot interfere in the court process,” Thoto said. “We depend on our Western friends, yes, but we are a sovereign country.”
Forty percent of Malawi’s budget is funded by international donors.
Monjeza, 26, and Chimbalanga, 20, have been jailed since their arrest Dec. 27, the day they celebrated their engagement with a party that drew crowds of curious onlookers in this conservative southern African country. Hearings in the trial also have attracted crowds.
A verdict is expected next month.
Amnesty International has called for the couple’s immediate release. More than 20 members of the Scottish Parliament have condemned the arrest, calling on their government to review its development aid package for Malawi.
Mauya Msuku, the couple’s lawyer, said the laws under which Monjeza and Chimbalanga were charged were archaic and unconstitutional.
“The penal code criminalizes homosexuality or same-sex marriages but under the Bill of Rights in the new constitution it is clearly stated that no one should be discriminated against on the basis of — among other things — sexual orientation,” he said.
Msuku has asked Chief Justice Lovemore Munlo for a constitutional review. Munlo has yet to set the date for a Constitutional Court hearing.
In Africa, only South Africa has legalized same-sex marriage. Uganda will soon debate a proposed law that would impose the death penalty on some gays, though Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has told colleagues he believes the bill is too harsh and a Cabinet minister has called — so far unsuccessfully — for the bill to be scrapped.
Hijackers receive ransom and an emergency rescue
NAIROBI, Kenya — The tanker Maran Centaurus, shown in an undated photo, and 28 hostages aboard were released Monday, but not before a separate group of pirates showed up in two speedboats demanding a cut of the $5.5 million ransom. The hijackers begged for assistance, and two helicopters from an anti-piracy force chased away the attackers.
NATION
GI guilty of mistreating fellow soldiers in Iraq
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A military panel in Kuwait convicted a U.S. soldier of being cruel and mistreating fellow soldiers, a case undertaken after an Army private from Ohio committed suicide in Iraq.
Staff Sgt. Enoch Chatman, of West Covina, Calif., was convicted Wednesday on two violations of the cruelty and maltreatment article of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, said Lt. Col. Kevin Olson, a military spokesman in Iraq.
Chatman was one of four soldiers accused of mistreating others in their platoon in Iraq through verbal abuse, physical punishment and ridicule of other soldiers.
The investigation was prompted by the August death of Pvt. Keiffer Wilhelm, 19, who grew up in Willard in northwest Ohio. He was in Iraq with his new platoon for just 10 days before he killed himself. His family believes he was treated so badly that he took his own life, but the military has determined there was no direct evidence the four soldiers’ misconduct caused the death.
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His father, Shane Wilhelm, attended the trial and said he was glad Chatman “got something” but is not completely satisfied with the outcome.
Chatman was sentenced Thursday to three months’ confinement, a reduction in rank and a reprimand, Olson said. He had faced up to 10 years in prison.
State of Union on Jan. 27
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will deliver the 2010 State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at 8 p.m. CST Jan. 27. It also will be streamed live on www.whitehouse.gov.
WORLD
Israeli police arrest 9in attack on mosque
JERUSALEM — Israeli police said Monday they have arrested nine people at a radical Jewish settlement in connection with the torching last month of a West Bank mosque and other attacks on Palestinian property.
Five people arrested in the pre-dawn police raid were linked to the mosque blaze, while four others are suspected in connection with what police described as “severe damage” to other Palestinian property.
Authorities suspect the Dec. 11 mosque fire was set by Jewish extremists outraged by a government-ordered slowdown in West Bank settlement construction. Some extremists take out their anger on Palestinians in a practice known as “price tag.”
The mosque attackers burned prayer carpets and a book stand with Muslim holy texts, and spray-painted graffiti on the floor.
Call for protests in Iran
Iranian opposition groups flooded the Web on Monday with calls for a massive show of force during next month’s anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, openly taunting authorities who have warned of a punishing response to any disruptions of the most hallowed day in the Iranian political calendar.
The blitz of messages and videos on opposition sites and social networking forums highlighted the continued ability of anti-government forces to harness the Internet despite attempts by Iranian officials to cripple their Web outreach.
It also suggested that the Feb. 11 commemorations could become a replay of the street battles that have marked other major political and religious dates in past months that anti-government protesters have used to challenge the ruling system. In the latest violence, at least eight people died in clashes between security forces and opposition supporters across Iran in late December, including a nephew of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.
Christians, Muslims clash
JOS, Nigeria — The Red Cross says violence between Christians and Muslims in the city of Jos in northern Nigeria has displaced 5,000 people and left 69 others injured.
Rioters burned down churches, mosques and homes during the attacks Sunday, the Red Cross said. On Monday, police and soldiers manned road blocks and conducted searches on travelers.
THE NUMBER: 22%
Married men whose wives earned more than they did in 2007, according to an analysis of census data by the Pew Research Center. In 1970, just 4 percent of married men earned less than their wives. In 1970, according to the report, 28 percent of wives in the 30-44 age range had husbands who were better educated than they were, outnumbering the 20 percent whose husbands had less education. By 2007, these patterns had reversed — 19 percent of wives had husbands with more education, compared with 28 percent whose husbands had less education. In the remaining couples — about half in 1970 and 2007 — spouses had similar education levels.