LONDON—Thousands of men convicted under now-abolished anti-homosexuality laws in Britain have been pardoned posthumously under a law passed on Tuesday, and many more still alive can now apply to have their criminal convictions wiped out. Announcing the new law, the Ministry of Justice said the pardons apply automatically to deceased men who were convicted for consensual same-sex relations before homosexuality was decriminalized several decades ago. Men living with convictions can apply to the government to have their names cleared. We can never undo the hurt caused, but we have apologized and taken action to right these wrongs,” Justice Minister Sam Gyimah said. Calls for a general pardon have noted the 1954 suicide of Second World War codebreaking hero Alan Turing after his conviction for “gross indecency.”After he received a posthumous royal pardon in 2013, pressure for pardons intensified.

Source: thestar January 31, 2017 16:37 UTC