Libya strikes deal with families in HIV case

The families of hundreds of Libyan children with HIV will receive more than $400 million under a deal expected to help free six foreign medics sentenced to death for infecting them, a source said yesterday.

The source said that Libyan authorities and families of the children had reached an agreement and the families were now expected to sign it.

"We are talking about $1 million per each family," said the source, who did not want to be identified because of the sensitivities of the discussions."They are collecting signatures now."

Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were sentenced to death in December after being convicted of infecting 426 Libyan children with the virus that causes AIDS while working at a children's hospital in the city of Benghazi.

The six say they are innocent and were tortured to make them confess.