Renewed calls to free death row medics as libyan court prepares to issue ruling
Posted, June 22, 2007 @ 16:00
Brussels, 22 June 2007 -- 'We will not give up hope' - the message from tireless campaigner Geoffrey Van Orden MEP, as the Libyan Supreme Court announced this week that it will rule on the case of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor on July 11.
The medics, accused of intentionally infecting more than 400 children with HIV while working at a Libyan hospital, were first sentenced to death by firing squad in May 2004 and, despite a retrial and fresh evidence, were again condemned to death late last year.
They have now spent more than eight years wrongfully imprisoned in Libya.
Geoffrey Van Orden MEP, who has campaigned vigorously on behalf of the nurses for many years, commented:
"It's disappointing that, once again, the Libyans have delayed proceedings when a solution to this tragedy is already so long overdue. But we will not give up hope.
"The British and other EU Member State Governments should continue to use their good offices behind the scenes so that we see a suitable outcome on July 11.
"As I have said before, we have the deepest sympathy for Libya's afflicted children and their families and welcome the practical assistance given to the Libyan medical services by the EU.
"But the catastrophe at Benghazi has never been helped by the creation of another separate tragedy through the incarceration of innocent people."