The statement comes in the wake of statements from the Scottish Parliament and international rights group, Amnesty International, over Lilongwe's treatment of the first openly gay couple.
Steven Monjeza, 26, and his partner 20-year-old Tiwonge Chimbalanga, have been in jail since their arrest on 27 December after they held a traditional engagement ceremony a day earlier. The couple plan to marry this year.
The two have since been charged with three counts of gross indecency and practising unnatural acts between males, felonies that can see them go to jail for up to 14 years.
But over 20 members of the Scottish parliament have condemned the arrest, calling on Edinburgh to review its development cooperation with Malawi.
Scotland's former First Minister Jack MacConnel spearheaded his country's cooperation with Malawi, pumping in millions of pounds in the health, education and water sectors.
A motion introduced by Dundee West MSP, Joe Fitzpatrick, described the arrest of the couple as "illegal and homophobic".
"Malawi is one of several African countries adopting increasingly homophobic attitudes, with Uganda having recently introduced anti- homosexual legislation including the death penalty and other repressive practices being introduced in Gambia," he was quoted as saying.
Amnesty International also joined in the fray, calling for the immediate release of the couple. The group's UK Director Kate Allen was quoted as saying: "The arrest of the two men solely for their real or perceived sexual orientation amounts to discrimination and it is in violation of their rights to freedom of conscience, expression, and privacy."
Peter Tatchell, leader of OutRage! - a gay rights group, called on the UK government to intercede on behalf of the gay couple by engaging the Malawi government.
But Malawi's Information Minister Leckford Mwanza Thoto defended the arrest of the couple, saying they were properly charged under the country's existing laws.
"We are a sovereign country with own laws," he said. "Our laws criminalise homosexuality and what the two did was clearly breaking the laws of Malawi."
Forty per cent of Malawi's budget is funded by donors and London is Malawi's biggest aid donor.
But Thoto said as a democracy the couple will be properly prosecuted and it will be up to the judiciary to find them guilty or clear them.
"As a government we cannot interfere in the court process," he said. "We depend on our Western friends, yes, but we are a sovereign country with own laws."
Blantyre Chief Resident Magistrate Nyakwawa Usiwa-Usiwa has since adjourned hearing the case to 25 January after Chimbalanga, the would-be bride in the relationship, was taken ill with malaria in court.
Mauya Msuku, lawyer for the couple, said the laws the couple were charged with were archaic and inconsistent with the country's new constitution adopted in 1995.
"The Penal Code criminalises 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 since applied to Chief Justice Lovemore Munlo to take the case before a Constitutional Court to test the constitutionality of the laws the couple were charged under.
Munlo, who must assign at least three judges to hear the case, is yet to set the date for the Constitutional Court hearing.
Malawi is largely a conservative Malawi society which frowns on gays and lesbians, with religious leaders condemning such acts as "satanism".
But studies by human right groups revealed there are a lot of homo-sexual acts happening in Malawi, especially in prisons and gradually, some Malawians are coming out in the open to declare their homo-sexual status.
Recently, a group of human rights activists formed an organization called Centre for the Development of People (CEDEP), which is fighting for minority rights, among them gays and prostitutes.
Blantyre - Pana 19/01/2010
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