A judge in Malawi has sentenced a gay couple to 14 years in prison with hard labour after they were convicted of gross indecency and unnatural acts. The judge said he wanted to protect the public "from people like you". Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, have been in jail since they were arrested in December after holding an engagement ceremony. Their arrest sparked international condemnation and a debate about homosexuality in the country. Roads closed "I will give you a scaring sentence so that the public be protected from people like you, so that we are not tempted to emulate this horrendous example," said Judge Nyakwawa Usiwa-Usiwa in the commercial capital, Blantyre. The BBC's Raphael Tenthani says Monjeza broke down in tears when he heard the sentence, while Chimbalanga remained calm. Defence lawyer Mauya Msuku told the BBC that they would appeal. The court room was packed, while hundreds of people gathered outside building and surrounding roads were closed. Some of the onlookers shouted abuse as the couple were taken back to jail. Mr Msuku had argued for a lighter sentence, pointing out that the pair's actions had not victimised anyone. "Here are two consenting adults doing their thing in private. Nobody will be threatened or offended if they are released into society," he said after the pair were convicted on Tuesday. Gift Trapence, from the Centre for Development of People (Cedep) human rights group described this as a sad day for Malawi. "How can they get 14 years simply for loving one another?" he asked. "Even if they are jailed for 20 years you can't change their sexuality. Michelle Kagari, deputy Africa director of Amnesty International, called the sentence "an outrage", reports the AP news agency. She described the pair as "prisoners of conscience" and said Amnesty would continue to campaign for them to be freed. Colonial law Malawi is a conservative society where same-sex liaisons are frowned upon. The judge said same-sex relations were "un-Malawian". But UK gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell pointed out that the laws under which the pair were convicted were introduced during British colonial rule. "These laws are a foreign imposition. They are not African," he said, The men had denied the charges and their lawyers said their constitutional rights had been violated. But Cedep and the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) have been urging authorities to relax the country's stance on homosexuals. Our reporter says the government has come under pressure from Western donors over the issue. For a poor country, 40% of whose development budget depends on donors, such concerns must be taken seriously, he adds. Source: BBC