Today is World AIDS Day, aimed at increasing awareness of the disease, remembering those who have died of it, and marking the progress made in the fight against it.
The following are reports from the MEMRI Special Dispatch Series and TV Project related to AIDS and conspiracy theories involving AIDS in the Middle East.
Syria
MEMRI TV Clip No. 846 - Syrian Deputy Minister of Religious Endowments Muhammad Abd Al-Sattar Al-Sayyid: AIDS Patients Should Be Stoned Before They Spread Their Disease
To view this clip visit, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/846.
Special Dispatch No. 1094 - Syrian Gov't Daily Suggests Israel Created, Spread Avian Flu Virus
On January 31, 2006, the Syrian government daily Al-Thawra published a column by Abd Al-Rahman Ghunaym suggesting that Israel created the avian flu virus in order to damage "genes carried only by Arabs." The writer further speculates that Israel may have planted the virus in East Asia in order to mislead the world, and that this is why the disease first appeared in that remote region. Another possibility given is that the virus was created to attack "the yellow race – especially in China and Vietnam" which are "rising powers" threatening "American hegemony over the world."
To view the full report, visit Syrian Gov't Daily Suggests Israel Created, Spread Avian Flu Virus.
Iran
MEMRI TV Clip No. 1251 - Iranian Nuclear Chief Mohammad Sa'idi Explains Why Iran Produces Heavy Water: Drinking It Helps Fight Cancer and AIDS
To view this clip visit, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/1251.
MEMRI TV Clip No. 993 - Iranian Council for National Security Spokesman Hosein Entezami: We Have Found a Cure for AIDS
To view this clip visit, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/993.
Palestinians
MEMRI TV Clip No. 1889 - Hamas TV Scientist Dr. Ahmad Al-Muzain: Bayer Invented Its Cure for AIDS on the Basis of a Hadith by Prophet Muhammad About the Wings of Flies
To view this clip visit, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/1889.
MEMRI TV Clip No. 2750 - Hizbullah MP Ismail Sukariyya Accuses Israel of Sending Egypt "Agricultural Carcinogenic Medicine" and "AIDS Girls"
To view this clip visit, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/2750.
MEMRI TV Clip No. 669 - Palestinian Friday Sermon by Sheikh Ibrahim Mudeiris: Muslims Will Rule America and Britain; Jews Are a Virus Resembling AIDS
To view this clip visit, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/669.
Egypt
Special Dispatch No. 322 - Egyptian Government-Sponsored Scientific Journal On American and Israeli Bio-Warfare and Jews Spreading AIDS to Asia and Africa
Following the post-9/11 anthrax scare in the U.S., the November 2001 issue of the Egyptian science magazine Al-'Ilm featured an article reviewing the history of biological and chemical warfare throughout the world. Al-'Ilm, put out by the publishers of the government-sponsored daily Al-Gumhuriya, shares the daily's editor-in-chief as well – Samir Ragab. Al-'Ilm's executive board is chaired by Egypt's Minister of Higher Education and the State for Scientific Research, Mufid Shihab.
To view the full report, visit Egyptian Government-Sponsored Scientific Journal: On American and Israeli Bio-Warfare and Jews Spreading AIDS to Asia and Africa.
MEMRI TV Clip No. 1865 - Egyptian Cleric Hazem Abu Ismail in Favor of Chopping Off Hands of Thieves; In Countries Where Promiscuity Prevails... You've Seen How AIDS Has Spread
To view this clip visit, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/1865.
Yemen
MEMRI TV Clip No. 1357 - Yemenite Sheik Abd Al-Majid Al-Zindani Talks about His "Cure" for AIDS and Says He Demands Money, Not Removal from U.S. Terror List, in Return for the Cure
To view this clip visit, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/1357.
Libya
Special Dispatch No. 214 - Qadhafi: The CIA and the Israeli Mossad Injected AIDS Into Libyan Children
The Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram, echoed accusations that Libyan leader Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi made against the U.S. and Israel: "Our brother, the Colonel Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi, the leader of the Libyan revolution, revealed that two years ago Libyan children in the city of Benghazi suffered from the most abominable crime in the history of mankind, when foreign nurses injected them with the AIDS virus, while pretending to immunize them."
To view the full report, visit Qadhafi: The CIA and the Israeli Mossad injected AIDS to Libyan children.
Lebanon
MEMRI TV Clip No. 1165 – 'New TV' Host Maria Ma'louf and Executive Intelligence Review's Uwe Friesecke Discuss AIDS, SARS, Mad Cow Disease, and Avian Flu in the Context of the Jewish Exodus from Egypt
To view this clip visit, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/1165.
Pakistan
Special Dispatch No. 2768 - Article in Urdu-Language Women's Magazine of Pakistan-Based Jihadist Group, Titled 'Polio: Disease or Dangerous Jewish Conspiracy?' States: 'The Jews, Who Dream of Ruling the World, Have Invented... Vaccines, Drugs, and Injections... to Weaken Muslims'
An article published by an Urdu-language magazine for women in Pakistan has called the international polio eradication campaign a Jewish conspiracy being furthered by various international organizations.
The article, by Mohammad Kamran Talib, is titled "Polio: Disease or Dangerous Jewish Conspiracy?" It was published in the Urdu-language monthly magazine Mahnama Banat-e-'Aisha ("Daughters of 'Aisha" – 'Aisha was one of the wives of the Prophet Muhammad). Mahnama Banat-e-'Aisha is a sister publication of Haftroza Al-Qalam, an Urdu-language weekly loyal to Jaish-e-Muhammad, an Al-Qaeda-linked militant organization based in the Pakistani province of Punjab.
The article first appeared in June 2006 an Urdu-language magazine called Mahnama Rahnuma-e-Sihat, and was reproduced in the October 2009 issue of Mahnama Banat-e-'Aisha.
To view the full report, visit Article in Urdu-Language Women's Magazine of Pakistan-Based Jihadist Group, Titled 'Polio: Disease or Dangerous Jewish Conspiracy?' States: 'The Jews, Who Dream of Ruling the World, Have Invented... Vaccines, Drugs, and Injections... to Weaken Muslims'.
Bahrain
MEMRI TV Clip No. 580 - Bahraini Expert Widad Lutah: AIDS in Africa Is the Result of Too Much Anal Sex
To view this clip visit, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/580.