Michaela Singer reports for the Daily News Egypt:
Human Rights Watch has condemned the decision taken by the Cairo Appeals court to uphold the sentencing of five men diagnosed with the HIV/AIDS virus to three-year prison terms, labeling it, “inhuman and unjust.”
In a press release issued by the organization, a torrent of criticism has also been directed at the ‘months-long campaign’ launched by Egyptian authorities that target men carrying HIV/AIDS.
“To send these men to prison because of their HIV status is inhuman and unjust,” said Joe Amon, director of the HIV/AIDS program at Human Rights Watch. “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.”
The decision, which came on May 28, upholds the May 7 ruling of the Court of First Instance, which handed out maximum prison terms for the crime of “habitual practice of debauchery” referring to consensual sexual acts between men.
Human Rights Watch reports that even before their first trial, the prosecutor branded them a “danger to public health,” telling their lawyer that they should not be allowed to “roam the streets freely.”
Four other men are already serving sentences of one year for “debauchery,” having been sentenced on Jan. 14, 2008. An appeals court upheld these sentences on Feb. 2.
Three other men were released without charge after testing negative for HIV.
Human Rights Watch noted that both men, whilst being held in detention, were subject to “inhumane” treatment by authorities, both medical and security-related, including beatings by police.
