Libyan court acquits nurses of defamation

A Libyan court dismissed defamation charges yesterday 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 defendants were accused of criminally defaming Libyan police officers Harb Amer, Juma Mishri and Osama Awedan and doctor Abdulmajid Alshoul by accusing them of using torture to secure confessions.

"The court dismisses the accusations," judge Salem Hamrouni told a 10-minute criminal court hearing in Tripoli.

Prosecutors had sought up to six years in jail, and the plaintiffs had demanded millions of dollars in compensation. Elmonsef Moftah, a lawyer for the four Libyans, said he would file an appeal within 10 days.

The accusations referred to testimony by the foreign medical staff alleging that they had been tortured to make them confess to deliberately infecting children with HIV in a hospital in Benghazi in the late 1990s. The confessions were a key pillar of their convictions last year in a trial that drew sharp international condemnation. The United States, the European Union and Bulgaria all insisted the medical workers were innocent.

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 envoy Saif al-Islam has said the six will not be executed.

The nurses and the doctor are appealing to the Supreme Court against their convictions and death sentences. No date has been set for a hearing.

Their lawyer Othman Bizanti said he was satisfied with yesterday's verdict, adding: "This is what I am striving for (in the appeal), because I believe the judiciary is independent."