The HIV trial in Libya (or Bulgarian nurses affair) concerns the trials, appeals and eventual release of six foreign medical workers charged with conspiring to deliberately infect over 400 children with HIV in 1998, causing an epidemic at El-Fatih Children's Hospital in Benghazi, Libya. About 56 of the infected children had died by August 2007. The total number of victims rose to 131 in 2022.
The defendants, arrested in 1999, were five Bulgariannurses (often termed "medics") and a Palestinianmedical intern. They were first sentenced to death, then had their case remanded to Libya's highest court, and were sentenced to death again, a penalty which was upheld by Libya's highest court in early July 2007. The six then had their sentences commuted to life in prison by a Libyan government panel. They were released following a deal reached with European Union representatives on humanitarian issues; the EU did not condone the guilty verdict in Libya against the six. On 24 July 2007, the five medics and the doctor were extradited to Bulgaria, where their sentences were commuted by the Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov and they were freed. Furthermore, a controversy has arisen concerning the terms of release, which allegedly include an arms trade as well as a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement signed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy in July 2007. Both the French and Bulgarian presidents have denied that the two deals were related to the liberation of the six, although this has been alleged by a variety of sources, including Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. (Full article...)
Image 5Australian infantry at Tobruk during World War II. Beginning on 10 April 1941, the Siege of Tobruk lasted for 240 days. (from History of Libya)
Image 6Libya map of Köppen climate classification (from Libya)
Image 7King Idris I announced Libya's independence on 24 December 1951, and was King until the 1969 coup that overthrew his government. (from History of Libya)
Image 9The temple of Zeus in the ancient Greek city of Cyrene. Libya has a number of World Heritage Sites from the ancient Greek era. (from History of Libya)
Image 10The Siege of Tripoli in 1551 allowed the Ottomans to capture the city from the Knights of St. John. (from History of Libya)
Image 34Flag of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (lasting from 1977 to 2011), the national anthem of which was "الله أكبر" (English: Allahu Akbar=god (is) great) (from History of Libya)
Image 45Territorial growth of Italian Libya: Territory ceded by Ottoman Empire 1912 (dark-green) but effectively Italy controlled only five ports (black), territories ceded by France and Britain 1919 and 1926 (light-green), territories ceded by France and Britain 1934/35 (red) (from History of Libya)
Image 47Bazeen, a communal bread dish (from Libya)
Image 48The Arch of Septimius Severus at Leptis Magna. The patronage of Roman emperor Septimus Severus allowed the city to become one of the most prominent in Roman Africa. (from History of Libya)
Image 50Al Manar Royal Palace in central Benghazi – the location of the University of Libya's first campus, founded by royal decree in 1955 (from Libya)
Image 51Libya is the fourth-most water-stressed country in the world. (from Libya)
... that to repel migrants, the European Union has paid hundreds of millions of euros to Libyan partners known to be involved in human trafficking, slavery, and torture?