The Botswana High Court ordered the government to provide HIV treatment to foreign prisoners at the state's expense.
On Friday Justice Bengbeame Sechele ruled that the denial anti-retrovirial (ARV) treatment to the inmates was a violation of their rights. Two Zimbabwean prisoners had sued the government for not providing them free ARV's while the Botswana citizens get them for free.
The prisoners stated that the government had denied them the "Right to Life". The prisoners said that they want to be treated with "freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment, discrimination, and inequality". Sechele said that the decision to exclude the inmates from ARV was was "irrational and invalid".
The government also decided that they should pay for the legal fees of the two inmates that had sued the government. The High Court rejected the claims that the prison did not have the funds to provide the foreign inmates with ARV and agreed with the inmates.
BONELA director Cindy Kelemi, called it a victory for human rights.
"The court affirmed that providing ARV treatment to all prisoners who need it is critical to effectively addressing HIV," she said.
SOURCE: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2014/08/botswana-pay-all-inmates-hiv-drugs-2014823193954603359.html
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