EU Asks Libya To Recall Death Sentences Of 6 Health Workers

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Main Category: Litigation / Medical Malpractice
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Article Date: 31 Dec 2006 - 9:00 PDT

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After five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor have been sentenced to death by a Libyan court for allegedly infecting about 400 children with HIV on purpose, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU commissioner for Foreign Relations and Neighborhood Policy has urged Libya to recall the sentences.

Benita Ferrero-Waldner wrote to the European Affairs Secretary, Libya, urging him to annul the death sentences, according to the Sofia News Agency, Bulgaria.

The mystery and shocking inaccuracy surrounding this trial beggars belief:

1. There is clear evidence that the children were already infected with HIV before the 6 health workers ever set foot on Libyan soil. The courts have refused to look at this evidence on two occasions. Eminent international scientists could have presented this evidence had the Libyan courts allowed them to do so.

2. There is compelling evidence that the hospital where the 6 medical workers were supposed to have infected the children had shocking hygiene practices. 114 Nobel Prize laureates asked Colonel Gaddafi, Libya's leader, to accept the evidence. He didn't.

Opinion of the Editor of Medical News Today

From what I can make out, this trial has chosen to blatantly ignore important evidence that shows the 6 medical workers are not guilty. This is a cover-up. The 6 medical workers, the 400 infected children and their families, plus people who will become infected in future because of appalling hygiene standards in the hospital, will pay the price. The wrong people are being punished while the guilty are not. The whole thing stinks to high heaven!!

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today