Libya frees foreign health workers
Posted: October 24, 2007
Freed nurse Valya Chervenyashka greets a relative at Sofia airport. DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP/Getty Images
The release of six foreign health workers in Libya on July 24, 2007, was very welcome news, and followed extensive campaigning by Amnesty International members from the beginning of the case in 1999.
The five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor had been accused of deliberately infecting 400 Libyan children with HIV. Twice, they were tried and sentenced to death.
Their release brought an end to a tragic case that has been riddled with injustice.
The freedom of the health workers was reportedly won after a deal between Libya and the European Union to improve ties. They were flown to Bulgaria and then pardoned by Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov.