Libya nurses deal yet to be agreed -families

TRIPOLI, June 17 (Reuters) Efforts to free six foreign medics sentenced to death for infecting Libyan children with the HIV virus have yet to result in a deal on compensation, a group representing the families of the children said today.

Libya's Supreme Court is due to hear an appeal by the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor this week.

Ramadan Fitouri, spokesman for the Association for the Families of the HIV-infected Children, said he expected the appeal to be dismissed, opening the way for a compensation deal.

''This will then be the ideal time to negotiate the issue of compensation,'' he told Reuters.

''If an agreement is reached about this -- I mean, if the families accept the compensation -- then the council could cancel the death penalty.'' Libyan officials have said even if the appeal court confirms the conviction and sentence, the case will go to Libya's High Judicial Council, a government-led body that has the power to amend or overturn decisions by the judiciary.

The medics were convicted in December of deliberately infecting 426 children with HIV in a highly politicised trial that has hampered attempts by OPEC-member Libya to restore full relations with the West.

All six say they are innocent and were tortured to make them confess, and Tripoli is under pressure from the United States and the European Union to release them.

Hopes of a deal for the medics' release rose last week after a visit to Libya by European Union External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Libyan officials said the visit resulted in positive signs that a deal could be concluded soon. Some media reports have said provisional agreements had been reached to do with Western provision for the children's future medical care.

But Libya also wants compensation paid to the families of the children. It is demanding 10 million euros ( million) for each infected child's family.

Bulgaria and its allies have rejected this, saying it would be an admission of guilt, but have offered a fund for treatment at European hospitals for the children.

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

Reuters PJ RN2324