Libya lifts death sentences on medics in HIV case

TRIPOLI, July 17 (Reuters) Libya today commuted death sentences on five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor convicted of deliberately infecting children with HIV, raising hopes they would soon be freed after eight years in jail.

A compensation settlement was made earlier in the day to 460 families of HIV-positive Libyan children -- 1 million dollars per family.

''My personal interpretation is that their move is the equivalent of a pardon because the compensation money is the equivalent in Islam to 'blood money', which entails pardon,'' spokesman for the families Idriss Lagha said.

The release of the foreign medics would remove a major obstacle to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's return to the international stage after decades of diplomatic isolation.

The six were sentenced to death last year after being convicted of intentionally starting an HIV epidemic at a children's hospital in the city of Benghazi. They say they are innocent and that confessions central to their case were extracted under torture.

Foreign HIV experts say the infections started before the six arrived at the hospital and were more likely to be the result of poor hygiene.

The victims' families have said the case was part of a Western attempt to undermine Muslims and Libya. Fifty-six of the children have died, arousing widespread anger in Libya.

COUNCIL TOOK CASE OVER The High Judicial Council, which is the country's highest judicial body and has the power to commute sentences or issue pardons, took over the case last week after Libya's Supreme Court upheld the death sentences.

''The High Judicial Council decided to commute the death sentences against the five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor to life-imprisonment terms,'' it said in a brief statement.

Zdravko Georgiev, husband of Christiana Valcheva, one of the nurses, told Bulgarian television: ''Our choice was not between good or bad news, but between bad and worse news. The worse news would have been the confirmation of the death sentences ... I think this is the end, but when it will all be over I do not know.'' The council had held off on ruling on the fate of the medics pending the families' acceptance of the financial deal.

Benita Ferrero-Waldner, commissioner for external relations for the European Union which has campaigned on behalf of its new member Bulgaria to have the nurses freed, welcomed the families' acceptance of the settlement.

She added the Union would continue to stand by commitments to assist the HIV-infected children.

Lagha said many sources contributed to the compensation: ''The money came from the Benghazi International Fund, which is financed by the European Union, United States, Bulgaria and Libya.'' Othman Bizanti, a lawyer for the nurses, said he had ''great hope'' that the council would free the medics.

Bulgaria and its allies in the EU and the United States say Libya has used the medics as scapegoats to deflect criticism of a dilapidated health care sector.

They have also suggested that not freeing the nurses would hurt Gaddafi's efforts to emerge from isolation, a process he began by scrapping a prohibited weapons programme in 2003.

Reuters JK VP0050