http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn10825A Libyan court has sentenced five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to death for knowingly infecting hundreds of children with HIV in hospital in Libya. The verdict, reached on Tuesday, has been widely condemned by the international community.
The defendants burst into tears as the judge passed sentence, while the families of the children in the case started to celebrate what they termed "a just verdict", singing and dancing outside the Tripoli court.
Defence lawyer Othman Bizanti told journalists that an appeal would be filed before Libya's Supreme Court within the legal time-limit of 60 days, in the last recourse open to the medics.
The six accused had worked at Al-Fateh hospital in the coastal city of Benghazi, where it was alleged they had infected 426 children with HIV. All six pleaded not guilty, saying that they have been made scapegoats for unhygienic hospitals. Independent scientific analysis of the mutations in the viruses and other evidence supports their argument (see
New evidence in Libyan HIV trial and
Libya urged to free medical workers in AIDS retrial).
They are expected to have the right of appeal to the Supreme Court for a second time. But that will be the last appeal allowed under Libyan law, defence lawyers said.
Shocking decisionEU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini called for the decision to be reviewed. "I'm shocked by this decision," he said, speaking outside the European parliament in Brussels, Belgium. "I strongly hope that the Libyan authorities will rethink this decision [which poses] an obstacle to cooperation with the EU."
The medics have been held since 1999, during which time 52 of the 426 infected children have died of AIDS. The nurses and doctor were previously sentenced to face a firing squad in May 2004, but Libya's Supreme Court ordered a retrial following an appeal in December 2005.
Bulgaria's parliamentary speaker urged Libya not to carry out the sentences. "We categorically and decisively reject the confirmation of the death sentences and express our deepest conviction that such verdicts cannot and must not be carried out," Georgy Pirinski said.
The case has strained relations between Libya and the west as the north African state works its way back into the international fold after renouncing in 2003 its efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction.
Scientific evidenceDefence lawyers argued that the children had been infected with HIV before the nurses began working at the hospital.
In November 2006, British medical journal The Lancet blasted the retrial as a miscarriage of justice with "no legal foundation". It cited independent scientific evidence that the infections were caused by bad hygiene at the Benghazi hospital, and reports from human rights watchdogs that confessions had been extracted under torture.
However, families of the infected children are pleased with the trialÂ’s outcome. "I am happy with the verdict, which shows the impartiality of the Libyan justice system," said Abullah Moghrabi, lawyer for the families.
Families of the dead children have demanded US$15 million in compensation for each lost youngster – a claim rejected by the Bulgarian government, which maintains that its nationals are innocent.
