AIDS group protests screening

AIDS group protests screening

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): Malaysia's biggest AIDS awareness and
prevention body has protested a proposal by officials in a
southern state to subject Muslim men to HIV tests before they are
allowed to get married, a news report said.

The criticism of the move by Islamic religious authorities in
Johor state came on Monday from Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's
daughter, Marina Mahathir, an outspoken AIDS activist who heads
the Malaysian AIDS Council. Mandatory HIV testing was a violation
of human rights, she said.

AIDS activists would soon meet with state officials to discuss
the proposal, she was quoted as saying.

Over the weekend, top government officials in Johor proposed
compulsory blood tests on Muslim men, a move that would affect
men in the dominant Malay community.

Johor chief minister Abdul Ghani Othman was quoted as saying
by newspapers on Sunday that it was part of efforts to check the
alarming rise of HIV cases in the state.