Paul Kasonkomona detained overnight after appearing on live TV and demanding decriminalisation of homosexuality

This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

A human rights activist has been arrested in Zambia minutes after he appeared on live television calling for homosexuality to be decriminalised.

Paul Kasonkomona was being driven from the Muvi TV studio in the capital, Lusaka, when his car was stopped by police. He was detained overnight at a local station.

On Monday he was charged with "inciting the public to take part in indecent activities", police said, and was due to appear in court imminently.

Officers reportedly tried to stop Kasonkomona's interview as it was in progress but managers at the TV station refused to take him off air.

Homosexuality is outlawed in 37 African countries and Zambia is among the more hostile political climates. Deeply conservative and religious, 98% of the population disapprove of homosexual behaviour, according to a 2010 survey. The country inherited British colonial-era laws, and advocacy groups are banned.

In South Africa, where gay marriage is legal, a campaign group demanded Kasonkomona's release in an online petition addressed to the Zambian president, Michael Sata.

"We further urge your government to immediately start a process to decriminalise consensual sex between adults in private irrespective of sexual orientation and gender identity," Ndifuna Ukwazi said. "This means repealing the laws introduced by the British colonial administration and codified in the Zambian penal code."

Zambian president Michael Sata, recipient of an online petition calling for Kasonkomona’s release. Photograph: Jerome Delay/Associated Press

All consensual adult same-sex acts are criminalised in Zambia, Ndifuna Ukwazi noted, adding that offences such as sodomy, or sex between women, carry a minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum of life.

"Indecent same-sex practices" – probably a reference to holding hands, kissing and masturbation between adults or alone – carries a minimum sentence of seven years and a maximum of 14 years, the group said.

Over Easter four gay couples attempted to register marriages with authorities but were rejected. A traditional leader, Chief Madzimawe, was quoted in the Zambia Daily Mail as saying: "It is not a culture of Zambians, Africans and Ngonis to practise homosexuality and gay people should be caged."

The government later said the couples involved should be dealt with by police.

In 2009 a gay couple in Malawi who held a public engagement ceremony were jailed for 14 years, but subsequently received a presidential pardon. Uganda's parliament is considering laws that would impose harsher penalties for homosexual activity.

Last month the EU advertised financial support to organisations that wanted to promote gays rights in Zambia.

In 2011, Britain and the US warned they would use foreign aid to push for homosexuality to be decriminalised in Africa.