Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2007. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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The New York Times - July 14, 2007
Scapegoating, because the real culprits were the unsanitary conditions and shoddy medical practices at the children's hospital in Benghazi where the foreigners came to work. Showboating, because the Libyan strongman, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, first needed something to deflect attention from his agreement to compensate victims of the Lockerbie bombing and his more recent cozying up to London and Washington.
And blackmail, because Libya has openly linked the resolution of the phony case to huge payments to parents of the infected children. The Supreme Court's decision this week to uphold the death sentence against the five nurses and the doctor is only the latest act in that charade.
In a perverse way, the court's decision also clears the way to set the prisoners free, and there are strong signs that the fix is in. The High Judicial Council of Libya is to convene on Monday and has the power to free the six. It should. The unfortunate medical workers have already spent almost a decade in jail, and the European Union has already paid huge amounts of ransom, disguised as aid.
Colonel Qaddafi has worked hard in recent years to shed his image as a dictatorial sponsor of terrorism. He must understand that it is in his own interest not to continue this travesty. It would be good if he also understood that the scourge of AIDS is far too terrible to be used for a shakedown.
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