Libya Revokes Nurses' Death Sentences
July 17, 2007
Some of the Bulgarian medics who were sentenced to death (file) (epa)
U.S. State Department official David Welch called the decision a "positive step forward," but not an end to the ordeal of the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor. Welch said he hoped the medics would be allowed to return home.
Earlier today, it was announced that the families of the children have received financial compensation worth $460 million.
The 460 families have signed a declaration renouncing the death sentences after reportedly receiving $1 million each in compensation.
The medical workers, in prison since 1999, were sentenced to death in December 2006 after being convicted of intentionally starting an HIV epidemic at a children's hospital in the city of Benghazi. Fifty-six of the children have died in the epidemic.
The medics say they are innocent and that they were tortured to confess.
(compiled from agency reports)