Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2007. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia - December 7, 2007

Ashraf Alhajouj and five Bulgarian nurses were sentenced to death in Libya on charges of deliberately starting an HIV epidemic. They were freed on July 24 under a cooperation deal between Libya and the European Union.

"Under political pressure, he (Alhajouj) decided to postpone (filing a complaint) by half a year at least," his Dutch lawyer, Liesbeth Zegveld, told Reuters by telephone from the Netherlands.

Alhajouj, who spent more than eight years in jail along with the nurses, had initially planned to file a complaint over his torture, abuse of evidence and other charges in Sept.

But Zegveld said her client had changed his mind after European politicians told him it would be better not to press charges as it would harm ties with Libya.

"I also experienced pressure. During a meeting at the Dutch ministry of foreign affairs, they made it clear to me that if he filed the procedure it would also mean a risk for the Bulgarian nurses who still work in Libya," the lawyer said.

Many Bulgarian medics have worked in Libya in the past two decades attracted by higher pay.

The return of the six medics to Bulgaria ended what critics called a human rights scandal and allowed the long-isolated north African country to complete a process of normalising ties with the West.

The medics have always maintained they are innocent and confessed under torture. International scientists say they have shown the HIV epidemic began infecting the children before the foreign medics arrived.

The medics said that before their release in July, they were made to sign an agreement that they would not start any legal procedures against Libya.

"Apparently it's both in the interest of Libya and other European countries not to pursue this matter, which is of course a shame," Alhajouj's lawyer said.

The doctor, who earlier this year received Bulgarian citizenship, told Reuters on Friday he had not given up the idea of pursuing justice but declined further comment.

Alhajouj and some of the nurses will be in France next week at the invitation of international human rights advocates Lawyers Without Borders. Their trip coincides with the visit of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to Paris.

(Reporting by Anna Mudeva)

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