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BLANTYRE, MALAWI -- Malawi police have arrested and charged two gays with "gross indecency" after the country's first same-sex public wedding ceremony at the weekend.

"We arrested them because they committed an offence; homosexuality in Malawi is illegal," police spokesman Davie Chingwalu told the BBC.

According to Chingwalu, the two who are currently in custody will appear before the courts soon to answer to charges leveled against them.

"Homosexuality is illegal in Malawi such that the two if convicted will spend a maximum of 14 years in prison with hard labour," he said. Currently, the police are still investigating the matter and looking for proper punishment for the two, he said.

Human rights activist Gift Trapence says they will appear in court on Monday and that his group will attempt to seek bail before that.

Homosexuality is banned in the conservative southern African country where the public discussion of sex is still taboo.

Countries such as Uganda, Senegal and Burundi have intensified their efforts to repress homosexuality in a continent where 38 out of 53 countries have criminalised consensual gay sex.