By Christopher Cappiello

German scientists “snip” HIV from cells

In what could be the first step in a revolutionary approach to combating HIV/AIDS, a group of German scientists have succeeded in “snipping” the AIDS virus out of human cells, leaving previously infected cells healthy.

“We have rid the cells of the virus,” said Joachim Hauber, of the Heinrich Pette Institute for Experimental Virology and Immunology in Hamburg, to Deutsche Welle. “No one else has done this before.” Hauber expressed cautious hope that a cure for AIDS could be developed within 10 years.

The scientists used a genetically engineered recombinase enzyme called Tre to literally cut out HIV genetic material from a cell’s genome. “Although Tre has so far only been tested in tissue culture cells, this work lays the technical foundation for a novel therapeutic approach that one day might be used to eradicate the HIV from cells of infected patients,” Hauber said. “We will first go back to the bench to further improve the enzyme and then test whether the recombinase can be delivered efficiently and safely to cells in the human body.”

The researchers, including partners at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biology and Genetics in Dresden, Germany, plan three years of experiments on mice before testing on humans.

If the research leads to a successful therapy, Hauber emphasizes that it will not be a simple prescription. Stem cells from a patient would have to be treated in the laboratory and then re-injected into the patient to regenerate a healthy immune system.

“It’s high-tech medicine,” he said.

Iran executions to include gays

In the wake of international condemnation for the stoning death of a man judged guilty of adultery, Iranian officials say more executions are imminent, including some for homosexual acts.

“Stoning is based on Islamic Sharia law, and it is not contrary to any of our international obligations,” Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of the Iranian judiciary’s human rights committee, said on state television, according to Qatar’s Peninsula.

The New York Times reports that a judiciary spokesman, Alireza Jamshidi, confirmed that the stoning took place in Takestan, a city west of Tehran. Jaffar Kiani, 47, was stoned to death “by the local judges and authorities,” according to the newspaper Etemad Melli. Kiani’s partner, Mokarameh Ebrahimi, is in jail with her two children.

Jamshidi also said that 20 more men would be executed in the coming days for immoral acts, including “rape, insulting religious sanctities and laws and homosexuality.” Iran typically carries out executions by hanging.

On July 19, the second anniversary of the hanging execution of two teenage boys on sodomy and rape charges, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission condemned Iran’s continued prosecution of consensual gay sex. “Executions in and of themselves constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment under international law, particularly in the context of consensual sexual conduct,” said Paula Ettelbrick, IGLHRC executive director, in a statement. “But the added problem in these cases is that Iran seems to be arbitrarily targeting individuals perceived to be gay for these forms of heinous abuse.”

South African lesbians latest victims of violence

In spite of being one of only five countries in the world to legalize same-sex marriage, South Africa continues to see violent anti-gay attacks, including the recent execution-style murder of lesbian rights activist Sizakele Sigasa and Salome Masooa.

The two women left a Soweto party on July 7. The next day, a jogger discovered their bodies in the Meadowlands region of the township. According to the Sunday Herald, both women had been raped, tortured and shot in the head.

“It is being both black and gay which is problematic,” Zanele Muholi, a community relations officer with a local lesbian rights group and controversial artist, told the Herald. She said she has recorded 50 rape cases against lesbians in townships, dating back 10 years. “The men who perpetrate such crimes see rape as curative and as an attempt to show women their place in society.”

At a July 12 memorial service, Dawn Cavanagh, director of the Forum for the Empowerment of Women, said, “We have to call for justice for rape victims. Only 7 percent of rape perpetrators are prosecuted. We need to say enough is enough.”

At press time, no arrests had been made.

Arafat AIDS rumors reignited

Reviving discussion of Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat’s mysterious November 2004 death in a Paris hospital, a prominent Palestinian resistance figure claimed in an early July television interview that high-level Palestinian leaders told him the official medical report from French doctors stated that Arafat died of AIDS-related illness.

Ahmad Jibril is the founder and leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command, an organization based in Damascus, Syria. He told Al-Manar TV that he questioned Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and his staff about Arafat’s death when the leader came to Damascus.

“They were silent, and then one of them said to me: ‘To be honest, the French gave us a medical report that stated that the cause of his death was AIDS,” Jibril said.

At the time of Arafat’s death—when he was airlifted from his blockaded West Bank headquarters to Paris—there was speculation that the cause of death was everything from AIDS to poisoning by the Israeli government.

A New York Times report almost a year after Arafat’s death concluded that he most likely died from a stroke brought on by an unidentified blood disorder. No HIV test was administered, and his wife refused to allow an autopsy.

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As part of a Parisian marketing campaign designed to get Brits to travel across the Channel, Paris is blanketing London with promotional billboards, including this racy rugby shot with the caption, “Enjoy Rugby in the Capital of Love.”