Egypt putting men with HIV in prision....

Egypt upholds HIV-positive men's jail terms
published Friday, May 30, 2008
Prison sentences imposed on five HIV-positive men in Cairo were upheld Wednesday as part of Egypt's attempt to tighten restrictions on people living with HIV/AIDS, according to Human Rights Watch.
The men, who received three-year sentences, along with four others previously arrested, have been imprisoned because of the widespread belief that they are a danger to public health.

"To send these men to prison because of their HIV status is inhuman and unjust," Human Rights Watch's Joe Amon said in a written statement. "Police, prosecutors and doctors have already abused them and violated their most basic rights, and now fear has trumped justice in a court of law."

In the past seven months, 12 men have been arrested in Egypt under suspicion that they were HIV-positive. The Egyptian government detained all of the men for several months, tested their HIV status without their consent, and administered multiple medical examinations that have since been deemed torturous by Human Rights Watch. Three of the men were released after months in detention because their HIV test results came back negative. The other nine have all been given prison terms.

"Putting these men in prison serves neither justice nor public health," Amon said. "The Egyptian government and the country's medical profession must act to end this campaign of intolerance." (The Advocate)