Malawi’s president, Bingu wa Mutharika, on Saturday pardoned and ordered the release of a gay couple sentenced to 14 years in prison for sodomy and indecency charges. “These boys committed a crime against our culture, our religion and our laws. However, as the head of state, I hereby pardon them and therefore ask for their immediate release with no conditions. I have done this on humanitarian grounds, but this does not mean that I support this. We don’t condone marriages of this nature. It’s unheard of in Malawi and it’s illegal.”

Malawi had faced international condemnation for the conviction and 14-year sentences given to the two men, who were arrested in December, a day after celebrating their engagement. No one knows where the men went after their release. They were not at their Blantyre home.