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Egyptian Film Stars Respond to HIV Persecutions

Prompted by the April 9 jailing and conviction of five men, four of whom are reportedly HIV-positive, for "habitual debauchery," two Egyptian film stars are speaking out against the prosecutions and urging more rational attitudes towards those with HIV and AIDS.

"The convictions are very worrying, increasing the idea that AIDS is not a disease to treat but a crime to punish," Agence France Presse quotes Khaled Abol Naga, described by the Internet Movie Database as a heart-throb star actor of the new generation of young Egyptian cinema. "People will be too scared to take an HIV test voluntarily," Abol Naga continued.

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"These convictions will only further reinforce prejudices while making the fight against AIDS all the more difficult," concurred colleague Amr Waked, who starred in the 2005 Hollywood take on the state of the oil industry Syriana.

According to Human Rights Watch, police arrested two men last October after stopping them during an altercation in the street. One of those arrested told police officers that he was HIV-positive. The defendants' lawyers told Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International that officers beat both men and subjected them to anal examinations, trying to prove they had engaged in homosexual conduct. They then arrested other men whose names or personal information were found in the two men's possession, keeping 12 individuals thought to be HIV-positive chained to hospital beds for many weeks until international outcry prompted their unshackling February 25.

Hossam Bahgat, director of Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, believes the prosecutions are specifically aimed at those HIV-positive: "Unlike incidents in the past this is not a renewed homophobic attack, but it's an offensive against AIDS via security measures," Bahgat told Agence France Presse.