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.