Relief over Libya medics reprieve

Prayers were said in Bulgaria following news of the decision

There has been a broad international welcome for a legal decision in Libya to retry six foreign medics convicted of deliberately giving children HIV.

Libya's supreme court overturned death sentences against five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor.

They have always denied intentionally infecting 426 children with contaminated blood.

Bulgaria's president said the ruling "confirmed our hope that justice in this case will prevail".

"The unfair death sentences were reversed.... We hope that the swiftness and the effectiveness demonstrated by the Libyan court in the past days will help to solve the case as soon as possible," President Georgi Parvanov added.

How can I rejoice... when seven years innocent people are in jail? Tsvetanka Siropoulu Nurse's relative Reaction in quotes

US State Department spokesman Justin Higgins described the decision as "a positive development since it removes the risk of the death penalty being carried out".

"As we have made clear before, we believe a way should be found to allow the medics to return to their home," he said.

The Council of Europe welcomed the decision and said it hoped the new trial will "comply with the internationally recognised standards of fairness and due process".

'Scapegoats'

The BBC's Bethany Bell in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, says the decision to order a retrial appears to be an attempt to end the stand-off between Libya and the West.

Relatives of the children want the death penalty upheld

The six were condemned to face death by firing squad after they were found guilty of knowingly infecting the children with the HIV virus. About 50 of the children have since died.

The medics, who have spent almost seven years in prison, say they were made scapegoats for poor hospital hygiene.

The supreme court ordered the retrial after hearing an appeal by the health workers, who said their confessions were extracted under torture.

The medics also presented the testimony of Western medical experts, who said the outbreak started before they arrived and was probably caused by unhygienic practices.

Parents and relatives of the infected children stood outside the supreme court, protesting against the decision and calling for the death penalty to be carried out.

The verdict comes at a time when negotiations on financial compensation have been taking place between the families of the infected children, a Bulgarian NGO and the EU.

On Friday, Bulgaria and Libya agreed to set up a fund for the families of the 426 HIV-infected children.