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No jail time for AIDS activists

    JOHANNESBURG

    Trespass charges against 18 members of South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) have been withdrawn, the South African Press Association reported on Thursday.

    The activists staged a five-hour sit-in at the offices of the trade and industry department in Cape Town earlier this year, as part of a nationwide protest for the distribution of HIV/AIDS drugs.

    The TAC national manager, Nathan Geffen, said the group's actions had been driven by the belief that the government's response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic at the time was inappropriate.

    He said TAC's decision to break the law had not been taken lightly.

    The government has since announced a national treatment plan that will provide anti-AIDS drugs to some 5 million HIV-positive people.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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