CASE POSTPONED

Aljazeera reports the Libyan Supreme Court has postponed for 10 weeks its ruling on the appeal of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who were condemned to death for allegedly infecting more than 400 children with the Aids virus.

Judge Ali al-Allout announced the postponement in a session lasting fewer than five minutes, saying the hearing was adjourned to Jan. 31.

In Sofia, Bulgarian Foreign Ministry spokesman Dimitar Tsantchev said his government would press ahead to procure a favorable resolution of the case. "We are deeply concerned about the protracted process which has put our compatriots on the ropes of their physical and mental stability," the spokesman said.

Bulgaria's President Georgi Parvanov said he had hoped that November 15 hearing would result in the only possible decision - acquittal. He said, the thorough analyses of the case evidence proves that the nurses are innocent, therefore the president expressed his hopes that Tuesday's postponement would be the last one and that the case will be fairly solved. Parvanov told the Sofia News Agency, “I would like to address you personally, Valya, Nasya, Kristiana, Valentina, Snezhana and Zdravko, who are already reaching the limits of their human capacity. I assure you that Bulgaria will not spare any sources and measures to reach a favorable end of that long and painful trial. "

Several European diplomats attended the session, while more than 100 relatives of the infected children were outside the court holding banners calling for the death sentences on the accused to be carried out. The relatives clashed with police and three were arrested.

During the trial last year, French Professor Luc Montagnier - the co-discoverer of HIV - testified that the virus was active in the hospital before the Bulgarian nurses began their contracts there.

In a report released on Tuesday, the New York-based Human Rights Watch quoted the Palestinian doctor, Ashraf Ahmad Juma, as saying he was tortured by electric shock, beating and sleep deprivation.” The confession was like multiple choice, and when I gave a wrong answer, they shocked me," HRW reported Juma as saying in the presence of a prison guard.

The London-based Amnesty International reported that two of the nurses said they had been raped. Sources: People’s Daily (China), Sofia News Agency, Aljazeera