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AAAS Human Rights Action Network

FACTS OF THE CASE:

On 25 December 2005, Libya's Supreme Court overturned the death sentences against five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor accused of deliberately infecting over 400 children with the HIV virus, and ordered a retrial to be held in a lower court. According to reports and expert testimony, the cause of the infections was poor hygiene in the hospital and was not the result of any deliberate action on the part of the medical professionals. The judgment came shortly after Bulgaria agreed to set up a fund to help fight AIDS in Libya.

The Supreme Court, citing "procedural flaws," ordered that the nurses and doctor be retried in the criminal court of Benghazi, the town where the infections occurred. Libyan Justice Minister Ali Hasnawi reported to Agence France Presse that the new trial would be held in one month, and there would be new judges to preside over the retrial.

The agreement reached between Libya and Bulgaria, in partnership with the European Union, the United States and Great Britain, creates a international fund that will help finance the treatment of the Libyan children suffering from AIDS and will improve medical equipment in the Benghazi hospital. Since the charges were first placed against the medical professionals, the Libyan-Bulgarian Association for the Promotion of Friendship and the Benghazi Hospital Association for AIDS Children began negotiations to provide care for the infected children and their families and press the government to overturn the death sentences of the foreign medical workers. Many international observers believe that the foreign medical workers were used as a scapegoat after news of the infections took place.

Although this step is being hailed by Bulgaria as a good sign for the eventual release of the nurses and Palestinian doctor, Libya still insists that the prisoners will not be released until Bulgaria agrees to compensate the families of the infected children. Bulgaria has steadfastly refused to pay anything other than "humanitarian aid," saying that such a payment would amount to an admission of guilt. Families of the infected children protested the judgment outside the Supreme Court.

The government of France has offered aid to the infected children. French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy met with four of the nurses and the doctor (Nurse Snezhana Dimitrova was sick, and thus could not attend the meeting) on 5 January 2006. He promised to press the government to release the medical professionals in exchange for French aid for the sickest of the infected children. Libyan leader Mu'ammar al-Gaddafi remains resolute, however, that the medical workers will not be released. He emphasized that the nurses confessed to deliberately infecting the children, and that they did so on behalf of an "organization aiming to destroy Libya." Human rights organizations say the confessions were extracted under torture.

(Sources of information for this case include: CNN International, The Gulf Times, News24, Sofia Echo, and the Kaiser Network.)

RELEVANT HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

• Article 10: All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.
• Article 14(1): All persons shall be equal before the courts and tribunals. In the determination of any criminal charge against him [or her], or of his [or her] rights and obligations in a suit at law, everyone shall be entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law.
• Article 7: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
• Article 9(3): Anyone arrested or detained on a criminal charge shall be brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorized by law to exercise judicial power and shall be entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to release. It shall not be the general rule that persons awaiting trial shall be detained in custody, but release may be subject to guarantees to appear for trial, at any other stage of the judicial proceedings, and, should occasion arise, for execution of the judgement.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

• Article 05: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
• Article 09: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
• Article 10: Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his [or her] rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him [or her].

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Please send faxes, letters, or emails:

• Commending the Libyan Supreme Court for overturning of the death sentence of the five Bulgarian nurses Kristiana Malinova Valcheva, Nasya Stojcheva Nenova, Valentina Manolova Siropulo, Valya Georgieva Chervenyashka and Snezhanka Ivanova Dimitrova, and Palestinian doctor, Ashraf Ahmad Jum'a;
• Expressing your extreme concern with reports that the medical workers were subject to torture while in detention; and
• Requesting their immediate release of the medical professionals from prison, on the grounds that there is no evidence that suggests that the charges held against them are true.

APPEAL AND INQUIRY MESSAGES SHOULD BE SENT TO:

His Excellency Mu'ammar al-Gaddafi
Leader of the Revolution
Office of the Leader of the Revolution
Tripoli
Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Libya
Salutation: Your Excellency

His Excellency Muhammad Misrati
Secretary of the People's Committee for Justice and General Security
Secretariat of the People's Committee for Justice and General Security
Tripoli
Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Libya
Salutation: Your Excellency

Dr. Muhammad 'Abduallah al-Harari
Secretary for Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the General Peoples' Congress
P.O. Box 84662
Tripoli
Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
LIBYA
Salutation: Dr. Abduallah al-Harari

COPIES SENT TO:

Mr. Ali Suleiman Aujali
Minister
Libyan Liaison Office
2600 Virginia AVE NW
Suite 705
Washington, DC 20037
Fax: 202-944-9606
Salutation: Dear Mr. Minister

Please send copies of your appeals, and any responses you may receive, or direct any questions you may have to Sarah Olmstead, AAAS Science and Human Rights Program, 1200 New York Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20005; tel. 202-326-6787; email shrp@aaas.org; or fax 202-289-4950.

The keys to effective appeals are to be courteous and respectful, accurate and precise, impartial in approach, and as specific as possible regarding the alleged violation and the international human rights standards and instruments that apply to the situation. Reference to your scientific organization and professional affiliation is always helpful.

To ensure that appeals are current and credible, please do not continue to write appeals on this case after 90 days from the date of the posting unless an update has been issued.

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