Libya delays 'HIV medics' verdict

[emad]

Libya's highest court has delayed a ruling on the death sentences of six foreign health workers accused of infecting children with HIV.

Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were sentenced to death in 2004, in a case which has drawn condemnation from Europe and the United States.

Human rights groups have said the medics were tortured in detention.

Libya's prime minister insists the case is legal, not political, and that the country's courts are independent.

The Libyan Supreme Court had been due to consider the medics' appeal against the death sentence on Tuesday, but postponed a ruling until 31 January 2006.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4437870.stm