Death row medics launch last-ditch appeal in Libya

Libyan men hold portraits of children infected with HIV in Tripoli The six foreign medics sit in the defendants dock at the Libyan high court in Tripoli Ashraf Ahmed Juma

Six foreign medics sentenced to death for infecting Libyan children with the AIDS virus launched their final appeal on Wednesday, after more than eight years behind bars for a crime they say they did not commit.

As the hearing opened, relatives of the victims rallied outside the Tripoli courtroom, holding up pictures of their infected children, many of whom have died.

Libya's supreme court is expected to uphold the death penalty against the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, but the verdict is expected to pave the way for a compensation package and for the sentences to be commuted.

However, a verdict was not expected on Wednesday.

Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam, has said he expected compensation for the infected childrens' families to be worked out between the Bulgarian government and the European Union.

"Immediately after the verdict, we will begin to work... on a package (of measures) with a view to a solution," Islam told Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper.Libyan sources close to the case said provided the package was agreed, a final decision on the medics' fate could be reached by the end of the week.

Libya's highest court has the authority to commute the death sentences to prison terms that could be served in Bulgaria which has an extradition treaty with Tripoli, a Libyan lawyer explained on condition of anonymity.

The medics were first arrested in February 1999 and were sentenced to death in May 2004 after being convicted of infecting 438 children with HIV-tainted blood at a hospital in the Mediterranean city of Benghazi.

Fifty-six children have since died.

The accused have denied the charges and foreign health experts have said the AIDS epidemic in Benghazi, Libya's second city, was probably the result of poor hygiene.

The case has sparked mounting criticism from the European Union and the United States and hindered Libya's efforts at rapprochment with the West after Kadhafi's regime renounced efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction in December 2003.

US President George W. Bush appealed for the release of the medics last week during a visit to Bulgaria. "We will continue to make clear to Libya that the release of these nurses is a higher priority" for Bulgaria, Bush said.

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.

Othman al-Bizanti, a Libyan lawyer for the medics, has said he would ask for an adjournment on Wednesday as he has not had enough time to prepare a defence. Journalists covering the hearing were being kept in a separate room, where images from the court were being transmitted but showing only the four judges.

The nurses -- Kristiana Valcheva, Nasya Nenova, Valya Cherveniashka, Valentina Siropulo, and Snezhana Dimitrova -- and the Palestinian doctor, Ashraf Juma Hajuj, are said to have suffered depression and other mental stress during their lengthy wait on death row.

Sofia on Tuesday said it has granted Hajuj, a resident of Libya since the age of five, Bulgarian citizenship as it would allow him to be extradited to Bulgaria along with the nurses in case of a favourable outcome of the case.

Kadhafi's son said any compensation for the victims would include medical assistance for the infected children and EU financing of a Libyan national action plan against AIDS.

The relatives initially asked for compensation of 10 million euros (about 13 million dollars) for each victim, saying however the amount was negotiable.

On the bilateral front, the EU is seeking better Libyan cooperation in combating illegal immigration to Europe, while Tripoli wants a partnership agreement with the European Union.

AFP