Libya court says nurses innocent of defamation

TRIPOLI, May 27 (Reuters) A Libyan court dismissed defamation charges today against five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who have been condemned to death in a separate trial for infecting Libyan children with HIV.

''The court dismisses the accusations,'' judge Salem Hamrouni told a criminal court in Tripoli, referring to charges that the six criminally defamed three police officers and a doctor by falsely accusing them of torture.

Prosecutors had sought up to six years in jail and the plaintiffs had demanded millions of dollars in compensation.

In April police officer Harb Amer joined police colleagues Juma Mishri and Osama Awedan and doctor Abdulmajid Alshoul in saying they were falsely accused by the six of torture.

The accusations in the defamation trial referred to testimony alleging the four Libyans had tortured the foreign medical workers during investigations into whether the six had deliberately infected Libyan children with HIV.

The five nurses and doctor were condemned to death last year for exposing hundreds of children to the virus that causes AIDS, in a case based largely on confessions they say they gave under torture.

The trial last year drew sharp international condemnation, with the United States and European Union joining Bulgaria in protesting the innocence of the medical workers.

Bulgaria says Libya is using the medics as scapegoats to deflect blame for the HIV epidemic from its dilapidated health system. Leading international scientists have testified that the outbreak started before the medics arrived at the hospital.

At least 50 of the more than 400 infected children have died. Libya has remained defiant under international pressure to free the nurses. But leader Muammar Gaddafi's son and leading envoy Saif al-Islam has said the six will not be executed.

REUTERS SG BST1900