Two Zambian men accused of having sex “against the order of nature” have been acquitted due to a lack of evidence.

Philip Mubiana (pictured right) and James Mwape (left), who were held since May 2013, faced 15 years in jail if found guilty, reports The Guardian.

The men, who were originally arrested after being reported to police by a relative of Mubiana, were kept in squalid conditions and allegedly forced to undergo ‘anal probing’ as a humiliating form of torture.

Zambia’s Daily Mail reports that youths protesting the presence of German ambassador to Zambia Bernd Finke, US embassy representative Mark Badat and head of the European Union (EU) delegation to Zambia Aad Biesebroek at the trial, carried placards reading “As youths of Zambia, we say no to gay rights”, “Abash homosexuality, leave Zambia alone”, “Zambia is a Christian nation”, and “Say no to homos.”

Human Rights organisations who campaigned on the men’s behalf have spoken out against a growing hostility towards LGBT people in the African country following Zambian Home Affairs Minister Edgar Lungu’s recent remarks that “those advocating gay rights should go to hell, that is not an issue we will tolerate.

“There will be no such discussion on gay rights. That issue is foreign to this country.”

Earlier this year another Zambian magistrate acquitted the leading gay rights activist Paul Kasonkomona on charges of encouraging homosexuality after concluding that the prosecution had failed to provide sufficient evidence.