■ Michael Cashman: “I am alarmed and strongly object to this crackdown on people suspected of being HIV positive, and their subsequent treatment.”

BRUSSELS, March 10, 2008  –  A British Member of the European Parliament has taken up the cause of the dozen Egyptian men who, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI) say, have been arrested on suspicion of being HIV-positive and forced to undergo HIV tests.

The arrests were made under Egypt’s laws on gay conduct.

Last month, HRW and AI jointly revealed that Cairo police had arrested four more men suspected of having HIV, signalling a wider crackdown that endangers public health and violates basic human rights in Egypt.

A total of 12 men have now fallen victim of this crackdown which started last October, the two NGOs say.

Michael Cashman, the only openly gay man in the European Parliament, has expressed his alarm and strong objections in a letter to the Egyptian Ambassador in Brussels, Mahmoud Karem.

“I am alarmed and strongly object to this crackdown on people suspected of being HIV positive, and their subsequent treatment,” the MEP for West Midlands writes.

“Not only does this endanger public health, as such violations will dissuade people from being tested or seeking HIV health care information, but also forced testing violates basic human rights.

“These men, according to their defence lawyers, were convicted on the basis of coerced and repudiated statements taken from them without witnesses or other evidence being provided.”

Four of the men have already been sentenced to a year in jail, HRW/AI says.

“In their misguided attempt to apply Egypt’s unjust law on homosexual conduct, authorities are carrying on a crackdown against people living with HIV/AIDS,” Rebecca Schleifer, advocate for the HIV/AIDS and Human Rights Programme at Human Rights Watch, pointed out.

“This not only violates the most basic rights of people living with HIV. It also threatens public health, by making it dangerous for anyone to seek information about HIV prevention or treatment.”

Hassiba Hadj-Sahraoui, deputy director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme, said: “Arbitrary arrests, forcible HIV tests, and physical abuse only add to the disgraceful record of Egypt’s criminal justice system, where torture and ill-treatment are greeted with impunity.”

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have also called on Egyptian authorities to respect the men’s human rights and to immediately release them so as not to cause lasting damage to the country’s HIV/AIDS prevention efforts.

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Four Suspected Gays Arrested, Chained to Hospital Beds for Having HIV.  Cairo police have arrested four more men suspected of having HIV, signalling a wider crackdown that endangers public health and violates basic human rights in Egypt, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today in a joint statement.  (UK Gay News, February 15, 2008)