no link between European arms deal, medics

PARIS, Aug 4 (Reuters) A deal to sell European anti-tank missiles and military radios to Libya was not tied to the release of six foreign medics jailed in the North African state, the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said today.

''The arms contract Libya signed ... was not in exchange for releasing the medics,'' Saif al-Islam said. ''The timing was a coincidence. The release was a humanitarian affair which cannot be the object of a swap.'' The five Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor were freed hours before French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Tripoli last month. The deal opened the way for closer ties between Libya and the West.

Sarkozy's political opponents have called for a parliamentary commission of inquiry to establish whether the arms sale was related to the release of the medics, something his government has denied.

REUTERS KK VC2310