Foreign medics sentenced to die in Libya HIV case

TRIPOLI, Dec 19 (Reuters) A Libyan court sentenced five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to death today for deliberately infecting hundreds of children with the virus that causes AIDS, provoking a chorus of Western condemnation.

The ruling in a deeply politicised case could set back oil producer Libya's hopes of better ties with the West, which meant a deal that saves the six from execution was still likely, analysts said.

The children's relatives broke down in tears and hailed the ruling that ended a seven-month retrial as a welcome act of defiance of the West.

''Justice has been done. We are happy,'' said Subhy Abdullah, whose daughter Mona, 7, died from AIDS contracted at the hospital in the town of Benghazi where the medics worked.

''They should be executed quickly.'' The six deny infecting 426 children, more than 50 of whom have since died, with HIV at the hospital in the late 1990s.

Their lawyer said they planned to appeal against their latest conviction, which some analysts say Libya may use to strengthen its hand as it seeks foreign financial compensation in order to placate the families.

''I am so sick I had to take pills today to go through this new ordeal,'' said Zorka Anachkova, mother of convicted nurse Christiana Valcheva. ''We are all heart-broken. Can someone tell me what evil Christiana has ever done?'' The six were first found guilty in a 2004 trial and sentenced to death by firing squad.

But the supreme court quashed the ruling last year, citing unspecified failings in the case, and ordered a retrial.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has reason to free the six eventually, analysts say, because the case has slowed Tripoli's rapprochement with the West after decades of isolation.

This moved up a gear when Libya abandoned its pursuit of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons in 2003.

CHORUS OF CRITICISM Bulgaria, the European Union which it joins next month and Amnesty International were among swift critics of the verdict.

Washington had also earlier said the medics were innocent.

The International Council of Nurses and World Medical Association said the ruling turned a blind eye to evidence -- including from Luc Montagnier, a French doctor who first detected the HIV virus -- that the children were infected well before the medics arrived in Benghazi in 1998.

''How many children will go on dying in Libyan hospitals while the government ignores the root of the problem?'' they said in a joint statement.

Some Western scientists say negligence and poor hospital hygiene are the real culprits and the six are scapegoats.

Analysts say the case is embroiled in power politics and a solution could take many more months, with Libya keeping the six as bargaining chips until talks yield a payout.

Tripoli has demanded 10 million euros (.11 million) for each infected child's family. Bulgaria and its allies reject this, saying it would admit guilt, but have offered a fund for treatment at European hospitals for the children.

''Now the real negotiations will begin, to find a way of either arranging compensation for the families of the infected children, or a pardon for the nurses,'' said George Joffe, a North Africa expert at Cambridge University.

''There will be a price to pay. It depends on what the international community is prepared to pay.'' DEFIANCE OF WEST Judge Mahmoud Haouissa did not say how the six should be executed but Libya's preferred method is firing squad.

Referring to Gaddafi, relatives of the children shouted: ''Go ahead, our falcon, in defiance of the West.'' Families say the infections are part of a Western attempt to undermine Muslims in general and Libya in particular.

The six sat calmly as their sentences were announced.

''The verdicts will change nothing. we are innocent,'' the Palestinian doctor, Ashraf Alhajouj, told Reuters from behind the bars of the dock.

Libyan Justice Minister Ali Omar Hassnaoui said the six may appeal to the supreme court and, if that went against them, to a superior body called the high council of justice.

REUTERS PDM PM1850