TRIPOLI, July 11: Libya’s Supreme Court on Wednesday confirmed the death penalty against six foreign medics convicted of infecting hundreds of children with the Aids virus, but a reprieve may still be possible in the case that has dragged on for eight years.

The five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were not in court for the verdict, announced the day after a compensation deal was reached with the children’s families that could see the death sentences commuted to prison terms.

“In the name of the people, the court has decided not to accept the defendants’ appeal and confirms the death penalty against them,” chief judge Fathi Dahan said.

Libya’s top legal body is due to meet next week to examine the compensation deal negotiated by the Qaddafi Foundation.

“The Supreme Judicial Council is going to meet on Monday and it will be up to this body to cancel or commute the verdict pronounced today by the supreme court,” Foreign Minister Abdel Rahman Shalgham told reporters.

Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates, whose country holds the rotating European Union presidency, expressed sorrow over the verdict and appealed for clemency.

“We will continue our efforts together with our European and other international partners towards reaching a final agreement and for a decision of the Supreme Judicial Council which will be positive for our medical workers,” Bulgarian President Georgy Parvanov said.

Bulgarian lawyers for the nurses condemned the verdict.

“I am devastated. Justice was not done,” lawyer Hari Haralambiev told Bulgarian national radio.

“Libyan justice wrote a sad and shameful page in its book. It is obvious now that Libyan justice was exploited for reaching other goals,” added the Bulgarian coordinator of the defence, Trayan Markovski.

A special fund for the Aids victims was set up by Libya and Bulgaria in 2005 under the aegis of the EU.

Omar Al Mesmari, the father of a sick child, told AFP that families were ready to accept an agreement.

“All that counts for us is the health of our children,” he said. “If we do not accept the agreement, the Europeans will stop our children from going to their institutions for treatment.”

United States President George W. Bush had urged Libyan leader Moamer Qaddafi in a letter delivered on Monday to help in the dispute, telling him that the case and lingering issues tied to the 1989 Lockerbie bombing needed his attention.

US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters on Wednesday that Washington was still banking on a reprieve for the six medics.

But he added that the US still maintained its stand that the foreign medics “should be returned as soon as possible -- not immediately -- to their countries.”

The six medics still face defamation charges brought by a senior police officer after being acquitted in May on similar charges.—AFP