U.N. Presses Malawi Over Gay Convictions

U.N. secretary general Ban Ki-moon said Monday that he will meet this weekend with Malawian president Bingu wa Mutharika to discuss the 14-year jail sentences recently handed down to two gay men in the East African nation.

Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga have been jailed since December for holding a public engagement ceremony and were convicted last week of "unnatural acts and gross indecency."

Ban said the jail sentences "violated human rights principles that ban both discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, as well as the criminalization of sexual acts between consenting adults," The New York Times reports.

Malawi is one of nearly 40 African countries worldwide where homosexuality is illegal.