An American working in Afghanistan who was jailed for engaging in gay sex in September has been released after it was determined he is straight and was framed.

Vincent White, 52, a finance ministry adviser, spent a month in a rat-infested Kabul prison, accused of paying an 18-year-old Afghan man $49 for sex. While in custody, he was forced to masturbate in front of policemen and doctors, he said.

He was released after the Afghan man admitted he concocted the story while being tortured by the police.

Afghan prosecutors plan to investigate the incident to determine if White was targeted by people upset over his role in vetoing certain government contracts that would have been lucrative for Western firms and Afghan officials, according to a report in London's Sunday Telegraph.

'Often in countries like this when contracts get dished out, everybody gets their palms greased and it is a bonanza for all,' White said. 'I wasn't prepared to let that happen and as a result I was framed.'

UK civil-partnership bill

The United Kingdom's Civil Partnership Bill cleared its final hurdles Nov. 17 and 19—passage in the House of Lords and royal assent.

The vote was 251-136. The measure passed the House of Commons Nov. 9 by a vote of 389-47.

Legally registered same-sex couples will obtain marriage rights in areas that include accident compensation, life insurance, immigration, inheritance, intestacy, pensions, taxation, tenancy, spouse and child support and workplace benefits.

'Finally, the House of Lords has recognized that Britain is a tolerant 21st-century nation,' said Ben Summerskill, head of the gay lobby group Stonewall. 'For the first time, the front benches of all three major political parties have backed equality for gay people. That represents a hugely positive change.'

The Coalition for Marriage Equality simultaneously welcomed and denounced the bill.

'The fact remains that same-sex marriage is illegal in the United Kingdom and the Civil Partnership Bill will remain a separate system for those in same-sex relationships—almost equal, yet oddly segregated from the rest of mainstream society,' said spokesman David Henry.

The coalition's Terry Sanderson added: 'The government constantly tells us that equality is at the top of its agenda, but repeatedly gay people are given less than equality. This is a glaring example of that'.

The first registrations likely will not take place until next fall, after the UK's tax and benefits systems have been overhauled to accommodate same-sex couples.

London gay-bashing spree

One man was killed and four were injured Oct. 30 in an apparent gay-bashing spree against people leaving Heaven nightclub near Royal Festival Hall in London's Charing Cross district. David Morley, 37, died in the hospital following surgery. He was a survivor of the 1999 nail-bomb attack on the gay Admiral Duncan pub, where he worked. Three people died and 73 were injured in that explosion.

On Nov. 6, police charged Barry Lee, 19, and two 16-year-old boys with Morley's murder. They also were charged with attempted grievous bodily harm of two other victims, robbery, violent disorder and conspiracy to commit robbery. There are four additional suspects who have not been charged yet.

'That David should survive one instance of hate crime against London's gay population only to then be killed in a later attack makes this weekend's appalling incident even worse,' Ben Summerskill, head of the gay-rights group Stonewall, told the BBC.

— Rex Wockner