Gay win in Botswana

BOTSWANA’S High Court has ruled in favour of decriminalising homosexuality, handing down a landmark verdict greeted with joy by gay rights campaigners.

Under the country’s 1965 penal code, homosexuality is punishable by a jail term of up to seven years. But Judge Michael Elburu declared it was time to “set aside the provisions of a Victorian era” and ordered the laws be amended. In a courtroom packed with activists, he declared that the current laws oppressed a minority of the population.