Libya says rejects "unfair" EU stance on nurses

TRIPOLI, Jan 21 (Reuters) Libya will not agree to ''unfair'' European demands that it free six medics sentenced to death for infecting hundreds of children with HIV because this would mean interfering in the judiciary, Libya's foreign minister said.

''The independence of the Libyan judicial system is a red line, being part of our independence and sovereignty, and we can never accept interference in its affairs,'' said Foreign Liaison and International Cooperation Minister Mohammed Abdel-Rahman Shalgam.

''No one in Libya can interfere in the work of the judicial system, not even the Leader of the Revolution himself,'' Shalgam, speaking to the Libyan General Peoples Congress or parliament, said yesterday in reference to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The European parliament urged EU states on Thursday to review ties with the oil-rich north African country and step up pressure to secure the early release of the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor.

The six were found guilty in December of deliberately starting an HIV outbreak at a hospital in Benghazi in eastern Libya. Over 430 children were infected and at least 50 have died.

The death sentences were condemned by Western governments and rights groups, with Bulgaria, which joined the EU this month, among the harshest critics.

The six have appealed to the Supreme Court, and a ruling is expected in the next few weeks.

''The stances of some European countries, regarding the court's ruling in this case, are unfair,'' said Shalgam, whose remarks were broadcast on national television.

''On the one hand, they (European countries) request the transparency and fairness of the judiciary, but when they see the fairness and transparency of judiciary, they demand the state's interference in the work of judiciary,'' he said.

''Libya has made contacts with regional and international organizations, being a member of these organisations, to take a stand in facing this European unjust stance,'' he said without elaborating.

Shalgam noted in his speech that the sentences were not the last word in the case, with a decision by the Supreme Court still to come, then another by the High Judicial Council, a body chaired by the justice minister.

''The High Judicial Council alone is the one to ratify the court's rulings,'' Shalgam said.

Some Western scientists blame negligence and poor hospital hygiene for the HIV outbreak and say the medics are scapegoats.

But in Libya the case has aroused much popular anger and the verdict was seen as a welcome act of defiance of the West.

REUTERS DKA BS2011