Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, who will be sentenced on Thursday, face at least a decade behind bars. They were arrested in December after testing Malawi's anti-gay laws with a public "engagement ceremony" before a wedding planned for this year.

The action outraged authorities in the deeply conservative country, one of the poorest in Africa. The men have been in prison ever since, despite an international campaign for their release and reports of maltreatment.

Judge Nyakwawa Usiwa-Usiwa, sitting in the old colonial capital of Blantyre, convicted both men of engaging in gay sex, which he said was "against the order of nature". The couple's lawyer argued that their actions had not victimised anyone.

"Unlike in a rape case, there was no complainant or victim in this case," he said. "Here are two consenting adults doing their thing in private. Nobody will be threatened or offended if they are released into society."

That argument fell on deaf ears in a country in which gays are now in hiding. Large crowds have jeered and pilloried the men on each occasion that they have been brought to court. At a previous court appearance Mr Chimbalanga, who was sick with malaria, was forced to return to the court room to mop up his vomit.

Mr Monjeza and Mr Chimbalanga are certain now to become a cause célèbre. Peter Tatchell, the British gay activist, issued a statement calling the verdict "cruel and unjust". Sixty-seven British MPs had previously signed a petition deploring the court action.

The verdict will increase pressure on the British Government, which gives Malawi about £80 million a year in aid, to cut back on donor funding unless it softens its anti-gay stance. Amnesty International called for the immediate release of the two men.

Bucharest Herald