Malawi Man Arrested For Posting Gay Rights Posters
Malawian police have arrested a man for allegedly putting up posters supporting homosexuality, which is illegal in the southern African nation. Peter Sawali was charged this week with conduct likely to cause breach of peace, said police spokesman Davie Chingwalu.
Sawali, 21, was putting up posters that read, "Gay rights are human rights," on a busy road in the city of Blantyre, the spokesman said. The man had stacks of glossy posters with the same message in his possession, according to the spokesman. An investigation is under way to seek more suspects, because Sawali said he was not acting alone.
"Homosexuality is illegal in Malawi and is punishable by prison time and hard labor," Chingwalu said. "Basically, he was promoting a criminal act. This is what this is all about." If convicted, Sawali would face up to five months in prison, hard labor and a fine of about 2,000 kwacha ($14), police said.
Homosexuality is a largely taboo subject in Malawi.
In late December, Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, were arrested and charged with public indecency after they became engaged in the country. The two pleaded not guilty and were detained pending trial. They are thought to be the first openly gay couple to pursue a public marriage in Malawi, according to the spokesman.
An investigation also is under way to determine whether Sawali is linked to the couple. The arrests have sparked international outcry from human rights organizations. Last month, Human Rights Watch wrote a letter to Malawi's government, accusing it of threatening citizens' fundamental rights.
"Prosecuting two adults just because they affirm their love is a terrible injustice," said Dipika Nath, of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights program at the New York-based organization.
The country is abiding by its constitution, the spokesman said. "All these countries want to impose their culture on us, but homosexuality is a crime, according to the penal code in Malawi," he said. Those found guilty of homosexuality in Malawi face a maximum of 14 years in jail.
Report From CNN
A former pub singer in China’s Hunan province is suspected of coaxing six men to hang themselves while playing sex games.
Zhou Youping (age 38 - photo right) is awaiting prosecution and facing murder charges regarding a series of hangings between October and November in Hunan’s capital Changsha.
At least six of the cases involved deaths of men who were from out of town. No suicide note was found.
Police found that Zhou had booked rooms under a pseudonym in two budget hotels where two of the six victims hanged themselves.
He was arrested in November and confessed that he was responsible for the deaths of the six men whom he had met online.
Zhou was a frequent visitor to an online chat room set up for homosexual relationships and he promised cash as well as other rewards. He demanded that the men should be his slaves in the hanging games, a media wire report said.
He, however, said he watched for enjoyment and had nothing to do with the men before leaving the room. He said he left them to die as he hated them for their desire for money and other rewards.
Three men survived Zhou’s hanging games.
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A gay ex-soldier from Sandusky, Ohio was arrested Thursday in Washington, D.C., after handcuffing himself to the fence in front of the White House.
At about 1:55 p.m., James Pietrangelo II, 44, who moved to Sandusky in the summer of 2009, was arrested by U.S. Park Police along with Dan Choi, 29, a gay Iraq war veteran from New York City, officials said.
Pietrangelo and Choi said nothing as park officers removed their handcuffs using a skeleton key of sorts and took them into custody, said Sgt. David Schlosser, a park police spokesman.
“They were very cooperative,” Schlosser said. “This was classic demonstration-type stuff. They were looking to make their point, not cause destruction, violence, mayhem or anything like that.”
Dressed in military uniforms, the pair were charged with failure to obey a lawful order, a misdemeanor offense, which generally carries punishments ranging from reprimands to a stint in jail, Schlosser said.
U.S. Park regulations require protesters to remain in motion while demonstrating, a caveat which Pietrangelo and Choi clearly violated, officials said.
They were taken to the city’s central cell block. Pietrangelo had a court hearing Friday where he was arraigned.
Officials say Pietrangelo and Choi carried no signs and did not vocalize their motive for shackling themselves to the fence, but an article in the New York Daily Post says the pair were surrounded by protesters who chanted, “’Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ has got to go.”
Numerous videos and photos posted on CNN.com, YouTube and on various gay-rights blogs show two men in military uniform identified as Choi and Pietrangelo walking with chanting protesters, standing in front of the White House fence, or talkng in front of a federal courthouse after their release.
Pietrangelo and Choi are fervent opponents of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which prevents gay and lesbian soldiers from openly declaring their sexual preferences.
Last year, Pietrangelo tried to legally challenge the constitutionality of the policy, but the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his case.
Pietrangelo and 11 other petitioners contended their military discharges violated their free speech, due process and equal protection rights under the First and Fifth Amendments, court records show.
But the lower courts dismissed their challenge, the appeals court upheld the lower court’s decision, and the Supreme Court rejected the case.
A former Olympic equestrian rider has been arrested in central Florida, accused of failing to tell his former partner that he carried a sexually transmitted disease. According to a Marion County Florida Sheriff's Office affidavit, Darren Chiacchia was arrested Wednesday. He has been released on $2,000 bond. Chiacchia's former partner told investigators that he discovered Chiacchia's medical paperwork while vacationing in New York with the 2004 U.S. Olympic equestrian team member.
Last September DJ Blake Hayes (pictured left), and cabaret and Broadway performer Danny Calvert were attacked outside of McCoy's Bar in Hell's Kitchen, along with their friend Alec Bell. They claimed a man flicked a cigarette at them while saying, "Keep moving, faggots." When the trio quipped about the man's bald head, he became enraged, physically assaulted them, and said, "Die of AIDS, you fucking queers."
