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Hardliners Call for Sharia Law to Stop HIV Spread in Indonesia

by Trilok Kapur on Dec 1 2009 6:35 AM

Several hundred hardline Muslim protestors staged rallies for implementing Islamic law in Indonesia on Sunday to prevent the spread of HIV.

Ahead of World AIDS Day on December 1, members of the Hizbut Tahrir group took to the streets in several cities including Jakarta, Solo, Yogyakarta, and Makassar.

"We urge everybody to support the application of Sharia law in the Islamic caliphate so that, God willing, all of us will be free from the HIV/AIDS threat," Hizbut spokeswoman Febrianti Abassuni said in a statement.

In the capital, more than 200 female demonstrators urged the government to close down brothels and ban condoms, which they said encouraged "free sex and unhealthy behavior".

One banner read: "Prostitutes, drug users and homosexuals are the agents of immorality."

Around 270,000 Indonesians are estimated to be infected with HIV, and AIDS has claimed about 8,700 lives in the Muslim-majority nation of 228 million people, according to the UNAIDS agency.

Source-AFP
TRI


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