WASHINGTON, Oct 24, 2006 (AFP) - An international group of physicians and scientists urged Libya Tuesday to free five nurses and a doctor accused of deliberately injecting children with the AIDS virus, citing lack of proof.
The defendants, five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, have been jailed for nearly eight years and await resumption of their retrial, expected next Tuesday.
"Convicting a small group of individuals of such an appalling crime as the deliberate infection of 400 innocent children requires a very high degree of proof," the group of US, Canadian and European scientists wrote in a letter published in the October 25 issue of the US journal Science.
"Yet the Libyan court chose to exclude expert testimony from independent scientists and to prevent access to crucial pieces of evidence to test for HIV contamination, while relying instead on 'confessions' extracted under torture and making threats of execution for any noncooperation by the accused," they wrote.
The signatories included Robert Gallo, a US scientist who co-discovered that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) causes AIDS two decades ago.
They called on their respective governments to pressure Libya to release the accused, noting that Libya was seeking closer ties with the West.
"We therefore request that our governments reach out to the Libyan people and their political leadership to find a way to release the imprisoned health care workers, provide means to look after the HIV-1-infected children and help with all efforts to detect, treat and prevent HIV-1 infection within Libya."
The retrial of the six defendants was due to resume on October 31.
An initial trial sentenced them to death by firing squad in May 2004, straining ties between Tripoli and Sofia.
Libya's supreme court ordered a retrial on appeal in December 2005.
The nurses and doctor, who worked at a hospital in Benghazi, allegedly infected 426 children with HIV, of whom 52 have since died of AIDS.
During police interrogations, two of the nurses apparently confessed, but later testified in court that they had done so under torture. All six of the accused now assert their innocence.
For additional reading access the letter: A Plea for Justice for Jailed Medical Workers
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