Associated Press - November 15, 2005
Khaled El-Deeb

The accused were not present at the hearing, which lasted less than five minutes before Judge Ali al-Allout adjourned it. They were represented by their lawyers.

Bulgaria expressed deep concern. President Georgi Parvanov said the decision was "prolonging the drama of the five innocent nurses," who were first arrested in February 1999. He expressed hope that "this adjournment will be the last one and that a fair resolution of the case will be achieved."

After the postponement, more than 100 relatives of the infected children clashed with riot police outside the court, hurling stones and bottles. The violence was apparently sparked by a police officer pushing a female protester to the ground.

Wielding sticks, the police dispersed the relatives. Three demonstrators were arrested, and at least one police officer was slightly wounded.

Several European diplomats who attended the session also were attacked by the relatives afterward, and fled back into the building.

The relatives had held banners and signs calling for the death sentences to be carried out. Many parents held photos of the 426 children infected at the al-Fath Children's Hospital in Benghazi.

The six were convicted in May 2004 on charges of intentionally infecting the children with HIV as part of an experiment to find a cure for AIDS. They were sentenced to death by firing squad.

If the court had rejected the appeal, there would have been no further legal recourse and the only way to avoid the death sentence would be a pardon from Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

The European Union saw Tuesday's postponement as a favorable sign and appealed to the court to take a new look at the evidence.

"The postponement of the Supreme Court's judgment is a useful step, and we are counting on the Libyan judicial system to ensure that justice is done," said EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

While the judge gave no explanation of why the court delayed its ruling, it is likely that Libya would look for a face-saving solution in the case that has garnered intense international scrutiny, particularly as Gadhafi has tried to improve Libya's reputation.

In August, Libyan officials approached Bulgaria with a suggestion that the nurses could be spared the death penalty if the government paid compensation to the families of the AIDS victims. Bulgaria rejected the offer because it would have implied the nurses were guilty.

At least 50 of the children are reported to have died, adding to the pressure on the government. But the defense has argued that HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS, was circulating because of poor hygiene at the hospital.

The European Union and the United States have criticized the trial, saying it did not meet international standards of due process. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have produced reports in which the accused said they were tortured to coerce their confessions.

In Sofia, Bulgarian Foreign Ministry spokesman Dimitar Tsantchev said his government would press ahead for a favorable resolution.

"We are deeply concerned about the protracted process which has put our compatriots on the ropes of their physical and mental stability," the spokesman said.

The defendants are being held at Jadida prison, 12 miles east of Tripoli. While the Palestinian doctor is kept in the male section of the prison, a special house with a small garden has been built for the five nurses.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has said relations with Libya hinge on the fate of Bulgarian nurses. Last month, President Bush warned: "There should be no confusion in the Libyan government's mind that those nurses ought to be not only spared ... but out of prison."

French professor Luc Montagnier - the co-discoverer of HIV - testified at the trial that the virus was active in the hospital before the Bulgarians began their contracts there.

The prosecution produced Libyan medical experts who said the patients contracted HIV by injection.

In a report released Tuesday, Human Rights Watch quoted the Palestinian doctor, Ashraf Ahmad Juma, as saying he was tortured by electric shock, beatings and sleep deprivation.

"The confession was like multiple choice, and when I gave a wrong answer, they shocked me," the New York-based group quoted Juma as saying in the presence of a prison guard.

Amnesty International reported that two of the nurses said they had been raped.

Gadhafi has gone out of his way recently to repair Libya's image as a rogue state, including agreeing to dismantle its programs for weapons of mass destruction and to pay $2.7 billion in compensation to the families of the victims of the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland.

The moves have resulted in a resumption of diplomatic ties with the United States and other Western nations, although U.S. sanctions remain in place.

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