KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 (AFP) - Human rights activists on Friday reacted angrily to a suggestion by a mufti that people infected with AIDS and avian influenza be cast away on an island to prevent the spread of disease.
"We are dismayed by the call. AIDS do not spread through the air. By isolating them, it is definitely a human rights violation," S. Arutchelvan, spokesman of the rights group Voice of the Malaysian People told AFP.
The northern Perak state mufti Harussani Zakaria had said that isolation which was imposed at one time against lepers and those with other diseases like tuberculosis would be the best way to stop any dangerous disease from spreading and threatening people.
"Those with AIDS, avian influenza and any other dangerous disease, should be isolated so that the disease or virus they carry will not threaten others," Harussani was quoted as saying by the Star newspaper Friday.
"It is time this suggestion is seriously taken into consideration by the various parties involved," he added.
Arutchelvan said it was clear, that mufti Harussani needed a course on human rights and AIDS.
"There is a clear lack of awareness. You cannot relate AIDS to moral issues. His view does not solve the problem," he said.
Elizabeth Wong, secretary-general of the National Human Rights Society told AFP that the mufti's idea would not work well in a civilised society.
"The mufti should lead the way showing love and care as opposed to criminalising them," she said.
Wong said Harussani should instead use his influence to urge governments to make AIDS medicine affordable to all.
By the end of 2003, 58,012 HIV cases had been reported in Malaysia, Health Minister Chua Soi Lek had said. A total of 6,545 of them have died.
"There are 20 new cases every day with three AIDS cases and two deaths daily," he said last December.
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