Libya Refuses To Halt Death Sentences

December 19th, 2006

Tripoli, Libya - Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were sentenced to death in today and Libya says it will not bow to international pressure to reverse the decision.

The group were sentenced by a court in Tripoli for knowingly infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV.

The sentences have drawn international criticism, while academic bodies have argued that the guilty verdicts run counter to scientific evidence.

But Libya's foreign minister said it was now up to Libya's Supreme Court.

"Libya will never deal with such pressure from any side - from America, from Europe, from anywhere," Abdurrahman Shalgham said.

"No-one can intervene in our justice - no-one. Even our leader, Colonel Gaddafi, can't intervene. That should be quite clear."

The group, all of whom deny the charges, were sentenced to death in 2004, but the Supreme Court quashed the ruling after protests over the fairness of the trial.

Defence lawyers said the medics would file an appeal against the new verdict with the Supreme Court within 60 days.

The medics have been in detention since 1999, during which time 52 of the 426 infected children have died of Aids.

BBC News