Libya wants blood money paid
2005-08-18 13:19
Tripoli - Libya called on the Bulgarian government to negotiate the payment of blood money to win amnesty for six medics, including five Bulgarians and a Palestinian, sentenced to death for allegedly infecting 400 children with the virus that causes Aids.
Libya has come under intense pressure from Europe and the United States to free the medics, amid accusations by human rights groups that the government concocted the charges against them to cover up unsafe practices in its hospitals and clinics.
The six medical workers - rounded up in 1999 - were sentenced to death in May 2004 on charges they infected the children with HIV-contaminated blood in an experiment to find a cure for Aids. Libya said about 50 of the infected children have died. But in May, a court postponed a ruling in the defendants' appeal of their convictions until November, raising hopes that Libya might free them.
Negotiating with victims' families
Libya's ambassador to Britain, Mohammed al-Zaway, said the Bulgarian government should negotiate with the families of the victims to decide on a "diya", or blood money, which Islamic law allows to be paid to victims in murder cases to prevent a death sentence.
"Any solution other than negotiations is a waste of time," al-Zaway said after talks with US and British officials in Tripoli. "An agreement with the families of the children would reflect positively on the case according to Islamic law."
"The amount the Bulgarian government agrees on with the family is not an issue for us. The important thing is the families' agreement," he said.
No pressure, blackmail
"Libya will not accept pressure or blackmail. The issue is clear and the parties (in the dispute) are known, and they can reach an understanding," he said. "But we will not accept arrogant language from the West," he added, referring to Western pressure to resolve the case.
Bulgaria has rejected previous Libyan calls for it to pay compensation to the victims' families. Libyan officials have suggested the death sentences could be reconsidered if the families of the victims were compensated and those still alive were treated.
The six defendants have complained of severe torture during interrogations, saying they were jolted with electricity, beaten with sticks and repeatedly jumped on while strapped to their beds. Two of the Bulgarian nurses said they were raped. All the nurses are women. In June, a Libyan court acquitted nine police officers and a doctor accused in the torture.
Libya, once an international pariah, has turned a new page with many Western countries since 2003, when Gaddafi accepted responsibility and agreed to pay compensation for the families killed in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland. He has also renounced his aspirations to become a nuclear power.
- AP