Under pressure from the international community, Malawi's president Bingu wa Mutharika ordered a gay couple, jailed for 14 years for "unnatural acts and gross indecency" to be pardoned and released. But kind of grudgingly.

He added that Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza, who were celebrating their engagement when arrested, "committed a crime against our culture, against our religion, and against our laws." He went on to say that "we don't condone marriages of this nature. It's unheard of in Malawi and it's illegal."

It probably wasn't a coincidence that the release happened while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was in the country.