News by the HIV Justice Network

An excellent article from Andrew Bahemuka, policy advocacy officer of the Uganda Women’s Network, summarises all of the arguments against HIV-specific criminal HIV transmission legislation, published today in New Vision. Criminalising HIV/AIDS: Not a win-win situation Publication date: Wednesday, 15th…

Lawyers for No Angels singer, Nadja Benaissa, have sought and won an injunction against Bild, the Berlin-based tabloid that broke the news of her arrest for alleged HIV exposure and transmission, that forbids the paper to run any further stories…

An interesting editorial appeared today in Uganda’s New Vision about the use of the criminal law for HIV exposure or transmission in the aftermath of the Johnson Aziga verdict. Mr Aziga was born in Uganda, which is currently debating its…

This weekend, some of Canada’s major newspapers ran editorials and commentaries about the broader issue of HIV disclosure prior to sex that may risk transmission. The most enlightened, entitled ‘HIV/AIDS is just one risk of sexual activity’ by Iain Hunter…

Nadja Benaissa, 26, one of the members of Germany’s biggest girl group, No Angels, was arrested in Frankfurt last Saturday, following complaints from three men that she had unprotected sex with them without disclosing that she was HIV-positive. One of…

Nushawn Williams, whose 1997 arrest in New York State unleashed a wave of media hysteria, and several new HIV-specific laws in the US, has been denied parole again. He was sentenced to between four and twelve years in prison back…

Since the guilty verdict in first ever murder trial for sexual HIV transmission, Canada’s media has been filled with editorials, for the most part welcoming Johnson Aziga’s conviction. For example, Mr Aziga’s local paper, The Hamilton Spectator, whose reporter Barbara…

Johnson Aziga has become the first person ever to be convicted of murder for sexually transmitting HIV. The jury delivered their verdict late on Saturday after just three days of deliberation following a trial that lasted six months. Story from…

Aids Control Act ‘a mere shell’ By COLLINS OMONDIMonday, March 30 2009 at 19:16Daily Nation In Summary Special Programmes minister has left out some key provisions of the Act which are at the core of fighting stigma Lack of consent…

A 34 year-old HIV-positive New Zealand citizen originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo is under investigation following accusations that he did not disclose his HIV status before having unprotected sex with an Aukland woman, who is now HIV-positive. According…

An HIV-positive Missouri man has been charged with “two counts of reckless exposure to HIV” because he “scuffled” with two police officers who were trying to arrest him and shouted at them that he was HIV-positive and “hoped they would…

Brendan O’Connor, 25, who killed 50 year-old father of four Edward Clancy, “by stamping on his head with his full body weight” did so because he spat at him and he thought the man was HIV-positive. His plea of manslaughter…

Three articles published last week covered the gamut of opinions on Canada’s HIV exposure laws, and the impact they are having. To begin with the most conservative, an opinion piece by Ken Gallinger in the Toronto Star, entitled HIV is…

A 39 year-old man from Bournemouth has been arrested and released on police bail following complaints from several women in Exmouth, East Devon that he did not disclose his HIV status to them before they had consensual unprotected sex. The…

A New York State man charged with nine counts of reckless endangerment for having sex with nine males aged between 16 and 20 (the age of consent in NY is 17) without disclosing his HIV status has unleashed a political…

In the first ruling of its kind in the world, a court in Geneva, Switzerland, has quashed the 18 month prison sentence of a young HIV-positive man previously convicted of HIV exposure, after accepting that the risk of sexual HIV…

Two months after the Crown rested its case against Johnson Aziga – accused of first-degree murder due to the death of two women with whom it is alleged he recklessly infected with HIV – his defence team is rigourously questioning…

A Canadian HIV clinician whose pro-criminalisation views made the front page of the The Guelph Mercury last week has issued a letter of apology and clarification, stating that she is “definitely not ‘pushing for criminal charges’.” The article, published on…

A woman in Doha, the capital of Qatar, is on trial for either criminal HIV exposure or transmission, since it is unclear whether the three male complainants are also HIV-positive. Bizarelly, according to the only report I can find on…

Below are the opening paragraphs of a news story I wrote for aidsmap about a new THT report about how the police in England are handling investigations into criminal HIV transmission. The full report, Policing Transmission, can be downloaded from…

A startling and important new report from Sigma Research, entitled Sexually charged: the views of gay and bisexual men on criminal prosecutions for sexual HIV transmission has found that the majority of more than 8000 gay men surveyed in 2006…

Senator Pete Pirsch of Omaha, Nebraska has proposed an amendment to Nebraska’s Revised Statutes that would criminalise “intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly engag[ing] in sexual intercourse or sodomy with another individual with the intent to expose that individual to that life-threatening…

A group of Norweigian advocates known as HIV Manifesto are calling for the Norwegian government to repeal Section 155 of the Norwegian penal code, a 1902 infectious disease law that has only ever been used to criminalise HIV transmission. The…

Slightly off-topic, but according to reports from admittedly rather suspect sources, Italy’s highest court has ruled that a previous decision by the Vatican Court – to nullify an 18-year marriage because the husband had used condoms to prevent passing on…

An Ontario judge whose ignorance of how HIV is transmitted got him into hot water last January has “acknowledged that his behaviour was inappropriate” and taken steps to address the concerns raised by his conduct during trial, including seeking information…