Palestinian doctor will not forgive Libyan jailors

SOFIA, July 26 (Reuters) Palestinian doctor Ashraf Alhajouj says he will never forgive Libyan jailors who he says tortured him and five Bulgarian nurses to confess they deliberately infected hundreds of Libyan children with HIV.

''We were treated like animals. We were tortured in an awful way, with electricity, we were beaten, deprived of sleep,'' the grey-haired 38-year-old said.

''We cannot forget. Only God can forgive, I will never forgive''.

The Palestinian, who recently received Bulgarian citizenship, and the nurses were freed on Tuesday after more than eight years in detention, under a cooperation deal between Libya and the European Union.

The six, who were sentenced to death on two occasions, have always maintained their innocence and said they confessed under torture. Bulgaria and other European governments had also said the medics were innocent and pushed for their release.

''Up to the last moment in my life I will be trying to clear my name and prove that we are innocent,'' Alhajouj told reporters today at a government residential complex on the outskirts of Sofia.

''I grew up in Libya, I never had anything against the Libyan people. We were scapegoats, there was not a shred of evidence against us,'' he said, looking tired and emotional.

The North African country jailed Alhajouj, who was born in Egypt but spent most of his life in Libya, in 1999 just two months before he was due to complete his internship in a hospital in the city of Benghazi where the outbreak occurred.

He and the Bulgarian nurses were charged with intentionally infecting more than 400 children with the virus that causes AIDS.

The doctor said his jailors tortured him into putting his fingerprints on blank paper on which they later wrote that he had confessed to deliberately starting the epidemic.

BLAMES POOR HOSPITAL HYGIENE He said he was convinced that Libya's inefficient healthcare system was to blame for the HIV epidemic.

''The hospital was like a place for livestock. It was very dirty, there was a huge shortage of medical supplies,'' he said.

Relatives of the sick children say the infections were part of a Western attempt to undermine Muslims and Libya. More than 50 children died.

Last week, Libya commuted the medics' death sentences to life imprisonment after the 460 HIV victims' families were paid 1 million dollar each in a settlement financed by an international fund.

But emotions still run high in Benghazi where the families condemned Bulgaria for pardoning the six upon their transfer to Sofia on Tuesday.

Alhajouj said he was disappointed at the lack of support in the Islamic world during his ordeal.

''I had no government to protect me ... Arab media started recognising my existence only after I received Bulgarian citizenship,'' the doctor said.

His parents and four sisters left Libya for the Netherlands in 2005 because of growing animosity.

He has not decided yet whether he will join his family or stay in Bulgaria.

''I'm a free man at last, I have a huge choice,'' the doctor said. ''I just want to think about good things now.'' Reuters SY RS2357