Five Americans Arrested in Zimbabwe

Five Americans who worked with AIDS orphans and patients in Zimbabwe have been arrested in the southern African country and accused of operating without proper medical licenses, their lawyer said today. Attorney Jonathan Samukange identified one as Gloria Cox Crowell, who is chairwoman of an AIDS program run by the Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland, California. Samukange had identified all five as doctors, but it was not clear that all were health workers.

Samukange said Cox Crowell and the four other Americans were arrested late yesterday along with a Zimbabwean doctor. He said the six are accused of practicing medicine in Zimbabwe without proper licenses and of running a pharmacy without a pharmacist's supervision or a pharmacist's license. He said they have proper licenses and were only supervising a pharmacy that mainly gave out AIDS medications. A court appearance is expected Monday. (More Zimbabwe stories.)