I have to admit, it's got to take a lot of guts to speak out openly on a subject like HIV/AIDS in an ultra-conservative society. Even here in the U.S. there are people who believe HIV is a punishment more than a disease, so I can't imagine what it's like in other, more conservative parts of the world.

A lonely voice in a conservative society, rising Egyptian film star Amr Waked is speaking out against his country's unofficial policy of jailing people with AIDS.

"It's insane that this happens in our country," said Waked, whose controversial roles - including playing alongside an Israeli actor - have made him the target of media attacks.

Together with celebrity actor Khaled Abul Naga, who was recently appointed a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, Waked has taken on the task of getting Egypt to face the taboo of AIDS.

"The deliberate confusion (around the issue) must stop - stigmatization does not help the fight against AIDS," he said.

On April 9 a Cairo court jailed five men, four of them HIV-positive, for three years on charges of "debauchery" linked to homosexuality in what rights groups called a "witch hunt."

The five were forced to have HIV tests and were chained to hospital beds until the results were known.

"They have appealed the court ruling but remain in prison. We don't know if they have access to care," Wessam al-Beih, country director of UNAIDS, the United Nations program on HIV/AIDS, told AFP.

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For Waked, "deep ignorance of AIDS is coupled with religious prejudices."

"These convictions will only further reinforce prejudices while making the fight against AIDS all the more difficult," he said.

Abul Naga echoes the view.

"The convictions are very worrying, increasing the idea that AIDS is not a disease to treat but a crime to punish," he said. "People will be too scared to take an HIV test voluntarily."

It's truly sad the level of ignorance people have with regard to this disease. And by sad, I mean really sad.

"It is a disease sent by God to punish sexual deviants," said Sheikh Mohammed Saleh from Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning.

For years, the authorities have denied or sought to minimize the existence of AIDS in Egypt, and even today official figures on people living with AIDS do not exist.

So kudos to Amr Waked and Khaled Abul Naga. Let's hope others join in their fight.