Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
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July 18, 2007

Libya Commutes Medics' Death Sentence in AIDS Case
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=182F18C:A6F02AD83191E1600035AED895FF54119574F7DCC14957C0 Families of
children infected with the virus dropped demands workers be executed
after receiving compensation payments The death sentence of five
Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor accused of infecting
hundreds of Libyan children with the AIDS virus, HIV, has been
commuted to life in prison. Sabina Castelfranco reports from Rome the
Bulgarians' effort now is to get the nurses repatriated.

The ruling came after the families of the children each received $1
million in compensation.

The families agreed to drop their demand for the execution of five
Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor charged with having infected
with HIV more 400 Libyan children at a hospital in the northeastern
coastal city of Benghazi.

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin called the ruling "a huge
step in the right direction."

International experts and outside scientific reports have said for
years that the children were contaminated as a result of unhygienic
conditions in the Libyan hospital.







Libyan security guards stand in front of the dock during the trial of
five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor in Tripoli, 04 Nov 2006

Libya's Supreme Court had upheld the death sentence of the six medics
last week, but the Judiciary Council meeting late Tuesday overruled
the court and commuted the sentences to life imprisonment.

Libya remains under intense international pressure to free the medical
workers who have been in prison since 1999.

Libya's Foreign Minister Abdel-Rahman Shalqam said Tripoli was willing
to consider the medics' deportation to Bulgaria. He said the
negotiations would take place within "the legal framework and
political context" between the two countries.

The United States and European Union welcomed the move by the Libyan
judicial council, which could remove an obstacle toward rebuilding
ties with Moammar Gadhafi's regime.

The United States said the ruling was a "positive step" and State
Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the U.S. was "encouraged" by
the decision. He urged the Libyan government to find a way now to
allow the medics to return home.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said it was a relief
that Libya's High Judicial Council did not uphold the death sentence.


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