LAGOS, Dec 4 (AFP) - A prominent Nigerian AIDS activist received death threats Tuesday hours after appearing on television and criticising a controversial doctor's claim to have found a cure for the disease, he told AFP.

Former military intelligence officer Mohammed Farouk, leader of the Nigerian AIDS Alliance, said the threats came after he criticised the controversial doctor Jeremiah Abalaka during an appearance on a Lagos television station.

"The threats came one after the other. They warned me against speaking out again against those claiming to have the cure for HIV/AIDS," he said.

"They are cowards," he added. "I am not bothered by the threats but my wife is worried," he said.

Farouk, who is HIV-positive, was one of 30 military officers who last year tested a so-called 'cure' produced by Abalaka, a doctor based near Abuja who has sold his expensive 'cure' to thousands of desperate patients since he made his claims to have found a cure two years ago.

Abalaka's claims have been dismissed as a nonsense by the Nigerian health ministry, but nothing has been done to stop him operating.

The former military officer told AFP that a dozen of the 30 military officers have now died from AIDS-related diseases and dismissed Abalaka's so-called 'cure' as "completely ineffective".

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