VARIOUS: Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor have lost appeal in Supreme Court against death sentence for infecting 426 Libyan children with HIV

Death sentences handed down to five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor for infecting 426 Libyan children with HIV are upheld by the Libyan Supreme Court, but their supporters have not lost all hope, since Libya's High Judicial Council, which has the power to overturn or commute the sentences, is to meet next week. Libya's Supreme Court upheld death sentences on Wednesday (July 11) against six foreign medics for infecting Libyan children with HIV, but officials said they could win a reprieve next week. Libyan Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdel-Rahman Shalgam said the government-controlled High Judicial Council, which has the power to commute the sentence or even pardon the five Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor, will consider the case on Monday. The Council's decision may take time and it would depend on non-judiciary considerations, including compensation for families of the infected children, Shalgam said. European Union and Bulgarian leaders expressed regret at Wednesday's ruling, the latest twist in the highly politicised trial, but said a solution may still be reached. There have been lengthy efforts to secure a deal with families of the children. "The court rejects the appeals of the defendants and confirms the death penalty," judge Fathi Dhan told a five-minute hearing. The six medics were not in court to hear his ruling. The six medics were sentenced to death in December after being convicted of infecting 426 Libyan children with the deadly virus while they worked at the children's hospital in the city of Benghazi in the 1990s. In jail since 1999, they say they are innocent and were tortured to make them confess. Some Western scientists say negligence and poor hospital hygiene were the real culprits and that the six were made into scapegoats. Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov said Wednesday's decision was no surprise. "We expect and insist on a swift solution by Libya's High Judicial Council to finally complete the case," he told reporters. Speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, European Union Commission President Jose Manual Barroso said: ''I would also like to take this opportunity to express my solidarity with the Bulgarian nurses, their families and also support for the Palestinian doctor, at a moment when we have learnt a very worrying news." Libyan officials say the Council would only agree to the release of the nurses if a settlement were reached in private talks between the families and the EU on funding for the children's medical care. Behind the scenes talks have been taking place between the EU and the association of the families of the children on just such a possible deal -- to provide a fund of tens of millions of dollars for the families to pay for the children's future care. Libya calls the cash "compensation" -- a term Bulgaria rejects as it says it implies the medics are guilty. The Libyan families have asked for 10 million euros ($13.3 million) for each child, far in excess of what observers say the EU has been prepared to pay. The Gaddafi Foundation charity, run by a son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam, has been a central player in facilitating the talks. Bulgarian relatives of five nurses sentenced to death in Libya on Wednesday (July 11) staged a protest outside the Libyan embassy in Sofia and released doves from cages. European Union officials met the nurses last month. Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU Commissioner for External Relations, flew to Libya with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, representing the German EU presidency, to try to advance efforts to secure the release of the medics.

ITN Source | July 12, 2007

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