by Rex Wockner
International News
A Cairo appeals court on May 28 upheld the three-year prison sentences of five men arrested in a crackdown on people thought to be HIV-positive.
Four other HIV-positive men have been jailed for a year as a result of the campaign targeting the crime of "habitual practice of debauchery" and at least three other men were arrested, then released months later when they were found to be HIV-negative.
"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."
All 12 men were force-tested for HIV and subjected to anal probes to "prove" they had engaged in sodomy. Those who tested positive were later chained to hospital beds for months.
