One of the world's most prominent AIDS scientists is lashing out at Stephen Harper, saying the Canadian Prime Minister snubbed organizers of a major international conference because he is "afraid" to show his face after his lack of leadership on health at the recent G8 summit.

"My country's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, was invited to be a plenary speaker and he refused," Julio Montaner, president of the International AIDS Society, told reporters Sunday at a press conference before the opening of the International AIDS Conference in Vienna.

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