South Africa’s leader, in a rare rebuke of a fellow African nation, Thursday condemned Malawi’s sentencing of a gay couple to 14 years in jail but said he would not press the country to change its laws. The statement from South African President Jacob Zuma, a Zulu traditionalist, was believed to be the strongest from an African head of state against the anti-gay clampdown in Malawi. A Malawi court last week sentenced a gay couple to 14 years each in jail for sodomy and indecency charges, a decision that human rights groups condemned and the United States called “unconscionable.” The case has highlighted discrimination against homosexuals in Africa, the world’s poorest continent. Kenyan police in February halted a gay wedding and arrested several suspected homosexuals.

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