Libya rejects Bush request to release Bulgarian nurses
Libya-USA, Politics, 10/18/2005

Libya rejected the request made by the US President George W. Bush to release five Bulgarian women nurses sentenced to death over being convicted of transferring AIDS/HIV to hundreds of Libyan children.

Bush told journalists in a meeting in the White House with the Bulgarian President Georgi Barvaniv that he conveyed this position clearly to Tripoli, and considered that abrogating the death penalty is not enough, but also the Libyan government should not be hesitant to release those women.

Commenting on that the Libyan foreign minister Abdul Rahman Shalqam said in a statement to al-Jazeera satellite TV on Monday that political decisions can not be taken in an issue since they are related to the judiciary. He added that the Libyan leader Muammar al-Qathafi "has no judicial authority to interfere in a matter pertinent only to the judiciary and families of the victims."

Shalqam indicated that the Libyan judiciary is independent, and he urged the Bulgarian authorities to reach an agreement with the families of the victims in order to pay compensations as a ransom to close the file of this case.

He said that his country explained repeatedly to the Bulgarian President who visited Tripoli in May and to the European Union and the human rights groups. He added that this matter should not be viewed unilaterally. There are hundreds of children who were vaccinated by a virus, and 47 of them died, and others are said to facce a similar fate.

Previous Stories:
  Aeisha al-Qathafi commends resistance of US occupation in Iraq   (9/29/2005)
  Bush lifts certain some weopons export restrictions on Libya   (9/29/2005)
  Libya calls Bulgaria for direct negotiations with AIDS victims   (8/18/2005)

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