For Exposing Partners to HIV, Man Gets 21 Years

A former D.C. government worker who has known since 1996 that he has the AIDS virus was sentenced to a 21-year prison term yesterday for luring women and teenage girls into sexual relationships without telling them of the risks.

Sundiata Basir, 34, a onetime assistant to a deputy mayor, had unprotected sex with at least seven partners in what prosecutors called "a stunning picture of criminal recklessness." Four women and girls, including a 15-year-old, later discovered that they had the AIDS virus, prosecutors said. Basir offered no apologies yesterday in D.C. Superior Court, declaring at one point: "I'm not going to say anything. Every time I say something, I get another case."

The judge called Basir a "violent, self-absorbed outlaw," and prosecutors expressed concern about the broader impact of his behavior. Basir had sex with an unknown number of others who might be spreading the virus, they said. Authorities urged people who think they might have been exposed to seek medical screening. more...