Search
  1. Home
  2. Southern Africa
  3. South Africa

Prison appeal filed against ARV ruling

    JOHANNESBURG

    South Africa's Department of Correctional Services has filed an appeal against a court judgment compelling Westville Prison, in the port city of Durban, to speedily provide anti-AIDS drugs to inmates.

    The High Court judgement was passed late in June after 15 inmates requested the court to order prison officials to remove any obstacles delaying access to antiretroviral (ARV) treatment.

    Jonathan Berger, a lawyer with the Johannesburg-based AIDS Law Project, which represented the inmates, confirmed that correctional services had lodged an appeal on Thursday morning.

    "They [correctional services] have applied for leave to appeal to a full bench of the provincial division of the KwaZulu-Natal Province High Court," Berger told the South African Press Association.

    He stressed that further deliberations could result in a loss of life among prisoners in urgent need of treatment.

    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

    Share this article

    Our ability to deliver compelling, field-based reporting on humanitarian crises rests on a few key principles: deep expertise, an unwavering commitment to amplifying affected voices, and a belief in the power of independent journalism to drive real change.

    We need your help to sustain and expand our work. Your donation will support our unique approach to journalism, helping fund everything from field-based investigations to the innovative storytelling that ensures marginalised voices are heard.

    Please consider joining our membership programme. Together, we can continue to make a meaningful impact on how the world responds to crises.

    Become a member of The New Humanitarian

    Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

    Join