A gay Mexican man with HIV/Aids has been granted asylum in the United States after a judge ruled he would be in danger of persecution in his home country.
The appeals court in San Francisco overturned earlier rulings in a case that has been closely watched by human rights campaigners.
Jose Boer-Sedano (45) has been fighting deportation for eight years. He entered the US on a six-month visa in 1990 and was discovered by immigration authorities in 1997.
The three-judge panel said he would probably face abuse in Mexico because of his sexuality and would have difficulty in getting treatment for his medical condition. The judges said reports from the US state department have found that violence against homosexual people remains widespread in Mexico.
Boer-Sedano said he had fled to San Francisco after a local policeman in Tampico, Mexico, had forced him to perform sex acts under the threat of either killing or ”outing” him. – Guardian Unlimited Â