TRIPOLI, June 20, 2007 (AFP) - Libya's supreme court said Wednesday it would issue its final verdict next month on six foreign medics on death row for allegedly infecting children with AIDS, but an official involved in the case said an out-of-court settlement could be reached as early as this week.
Court president Fathi Dahane set July 11 as the date for a verdict after the prosecution and defence presented their final arguments in the appeal against the May 2004 death sentences as families of the victims protested outside.
The medics -- five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor with Bulgarian citizenship -- were arrested in 1999 accused of infecting 438 children with HIV-tainted blood at a hospital in the Mediterranean city of Benghazi.
They have denied the charges and foreign health experts have said the epidemic in Libya's second city was probably the result of poor hygiene.
An official with the Kadhafi Foundation, a charity headed by the son of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi which has been closely involved in the case, said an out-of-court settlement could be reached as early as Friday.
"A statement on a deal between the families of the children suffering from AIDS and the European Union will be announced on Friday," said the official.
The move follows a visit to Libya last week of two European diplomats, and their deal is independent of the final appeal launched on Wednesday.
Kadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam, has said he expects a form of compensation, known as "diya" or blood money under Islamic law, to be worked out between the families, the Bulgarian government and the European Union.
"In a marathon it is often the last mile that is the most difficult," said Seif al-Islam at the time of the diplomats' visit.
The supreme court is expected to uphold the death sentences but a compensation deal would effectively override the court's decision and allow for the sentences to be commuted, judicial sources have said.
Prosecutors called on the appeals court to confirm the death sentences during Wednesday's one-day hearing, saying "the evidence has been established" to prove the nurses' guilt.
Defence lawyers demanded the acquittal of the accused, who were not in court for the proceedings.
The defence for the doctor said a confession had been extracted under torture, while advocates for the nurses said no proof of guilt had been established and offered compensation for the victims' families.
The relatives initially asked for compensation of 10 million euros (about 13 million dollars) for each victim, saying however the amount was negotiable.
On Wednesday, relatives of the victims staged a rally outside the Tripoli courtroom, calling for the death sentences to be carried out and holding up pictures of their infected children, 56 of whom have died.
The case has sparked mounting criticism from the EU and the United States and hindered Libya's efforts at rapprochment with the West after Kadhafi's regime renounced efforts to develop mass destruction weapons in December 2003.
US President George W. Bush appealed for the release of the medics last week during a visit to Bulgaria.
A date for the final appeal hearing was only decided after senior EU diplomats including External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner visited Libya earlier this month.
The nurses -- Kristiana Valcheva, Nasya Nenova, Valya Cherveniashka, Valentina Siropulo, and Snezhana Dimitrova -- and the doctor, Ashraf Juma Hajuj, are said to have suffered depression and other mental stress during their lengthy wait on death row.
But Ferrero-Waldner, who met the medics as well as families of the children, told German radio at the time of her visit that the nurses were in relatively good condition. "I think that emotionally they are strong, and their strength will encourage us in our efforts," she said.
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