Libya鈥檚 highest judicial body has commuted to life in prison the sentences of six foreign medics who have been on death row for infecting children with the AIDS virus, an official said.
鈥淭he Judicial Council decided to commute the death sentence to life in prison,鈥� said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, who has been granted Bulgarian citizenship, could serve out their sentences in Bulgaria, as the two countries have an extradition treaty. It was not immediately clear if the six would be sent to Bulgaria.
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However, the Bulgarian chief prosecutor will initiate on Wednesday procedures for seeking their extradition, spokesman Kamen Mikhov said. 鈥淔rom tomorrow, the prosecutor鈥檚 office will take steps to activiate the Bulgarian-Libyan extradition treaty,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t is a routine procedure that we have launched immediately in other cases.鈥�
Washington and the European Union joined in calling on Libya to send the six medics home. 鈥淲e urge the Libyan government to now find a way to allow the medics to return home,鈥� US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
The European Commission described it as a 鈥渞elief鈥� while adding that the objective remained 鈥渢heir transfer to the EU as soon as possible.鈥� Bulgaria joined the EU in January.
Bulgaria鈥檚 Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin welcomed Libya鈥檚 decision. 鈥淭he decision of Libya鈥檚 Supreme Judicial Council is a big step in the right direction, but for us the case will be over when our compatriots return to Bulgaria,鈥� Kalfin told journalists in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia.
Poor hygiene
The decision came after the children鈥檚 families dropped their call for the death penalty following a compensation deal worth millions of dollars. 鈥淲e have renounced the death penalty 鈥� after all our conditions were met,鈥� said Idriss Lagha, spokesman for the families. 鈥淎ll the families have received compensation.鈥�
The Gaddafi Foundation involved in mediating a resolution to the case that has dragged on for eight years and strained ties with the West, has previously said the compensation amounts to about $1 million per child.
The medics, who have been behind bars since 1999, were convicted of deliberately injecting 438 children in a Benghazi hospital with HIV-tainted blood. Lagha has said the number of victims has risen to about 460 after several mothers were infected. Fifty-six children have since died.
The death penalty had been confirmed by the Supreme Court last Wednesday, sparking renewed international concern over their fate.
Nurses Snezhana Dimitrova, Nasya Nenova, Valya Cherveniashka, Valentina Siropulo and Kristiana Valcheva and doctor Ashraf Juma Hajuj have always pleaded their innocence.
They say confessions were extracted under torture and foreign experts have blamed poor hygiene at the hospital for the AIDS outbreak in Libya鈥檚 second city of Benghazi on the Mediterranean coast.
Both EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Bulgaria鈥檚 Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev had urged Libya鈥檚 Judicial Council to make a swift and clement ruling.
Last week, the medics sought 鈥減ardon and mercy鈥� from the council, which can uphold, modify or overturn the Supreme Court verdict.
Torture accusations
The Gaddafi Foundation, headed by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi鈥檚 son Seif al-Islam, said the money was paid to the victims鈥� families out of a special Benghazi AIDS fund created in 2005 by Tripoli and Sofia under EU auspices.
Among the victims are eight Palestinians, two Egyptians, two Syrians, two Sudanese and a Moroccan as well as Libyans, according to Lagha.
Last week, Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel Rahman Shalgham said the compensation would be paid by 鈥渃ertain European countries and charitable organisations, and from the Libyan state鈥�.
He refused to reveal how much money was already in the fund, except to say it ran into 鈥渉undreds of millions of dollars鈥�.
The French Le Figaro daily had reported on Saturday that some EU countries could be involved in the compensation but the European Commission, which has already committed 聙2.5 million to the fund, has denied it played any role in the deal.
The six medics also face defamation charges brought by a senior police officer over their torture accusations, although this case could also be resolved.
