Foreign Doctor And Nurses Sentenced To Death In Libya Sued For Defamation

A Palestinian doctor and five Belgian nurses who have been sentenced to die for allegedly infecting Libyan children with the AIDS virus are being sued for defamation by the men the defendants claim beat confessions out of them. In December, the six were sentenced to die after a court found them guilty of infecting about 400 children in Bengazi. But international rights groups and governments doubt the fairness of the trial and have called for their release, saying AIDS was rampant and could not be attributed to the six. The defendants claimed during the trial that their confessions resulted from beatings administered by police officer Jumaa al-Mishri and Dr. Abdul-Majid al-Shoul. The policeman and the doctor are now suing the six defendants for $4 million in damages.