Jailed Libyan Medical Workers Free

International Law

Posted Jul 24, 2007, 09:10 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Five nurses and a doctor who had been convicted of deliberately infecting Libyan children with the HIV virus are now free.

The group was flown from Libya to Bulgaria, where they were pardoned today by the president, Associated Press reports. They had served more than eight years in prison.

The case had prompted an international outcry. Critics had said the infections were likely due to poor conditions at the medical center where the children were treated.

Libya’s top court had overturned the group’s death sentences on July 19. Libya then freed the group so they could serve their sentence at home, Bloomberg News explains.