Third accuser joins Libya nurses defamation trial

TRIPOLI, Mar 11 (Reuters) A third Libyan has joined two others in complaining of defamation by five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death for infecting Libyan children with HIV, a court heard today.

Police officer Osama Awedan has joined police colleague Juma Mishri and doctor Abdulmajid Alshoul in alleging they were falsely accused by the six of torturing them, lawyers said at a criminal court trying the six for defamation.

Awedan is claiming seven million dinars (5.46 million dollar) in compensation for distress caused by the torture allegations. Mishri and Alshoul are claiming five million dinars each.

Judge Salem Hamrouni adjourned the trial until March 25 to allow the defence to continue to study prosecution documents.

A Libyan court sentenced the six, in jail since 1999, to death in December for starting an HIV epidemic in a hospital in the eastern town of Benghazi, to outcry from the West.

Leading scientists have repeatedly said the infections started before the medics arrived.

Libya has remained defiant under international pressure, saying others should not interfere in its courts. But Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son and leading envoy Saif al-Islam said in January the six would not be executed.

In the HIV infection trial the Libyan prosecution based its case mainly on confessions from some of the nurses, who say they are innocent and were beaten and tortured to admit guilt.

A Libyan prosecutor has urged the court to give the six the ''maximum punishment'' which lawyers said could be a six-year imprisonment term on top of compensation.

Alshoul and nine Libyan policemen including Mishri and Awedan were tried and acquitted in June 2005 of torturing the nurses and the doctor.

REUTERS SP PM1933