Jailed poet forcibly injected with HIV

Posted on November 13, 2008
Filed Under Burma news |

Aung Than, a poet and member of the opposition National League for Democracy was infected with the HIV virus after being forcibly injected while in Insein prison says Reporters Without Borders.
In a statement issued jointly with the Burma Media Association, they cite Aung’s friends and family, including his mother, who says he is in a critical condition.
Aung was forcibly given an injection in October 2006, after being admitted to the prison hospital with a prostrate problem.
He says a staff member, who was not a doctor, administered the injection. At first, he refused because the needle was used.
Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association are calling for his immediate release so that he can receive appropriate treatment. “We also urge the international community to press for the International Committee of the Red Cross to be allowed to visit Burma’s prisons as it was from 1999 to the end of 2005,” they said.

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