by DemFromCT
Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were pardoned by President Georgi Parvanov upon their arrival in Sofia on Tuesday after spending 8 1/2 years in prison in Libya.
The medics, who were sentenced to life in prison for allegedly contaminating children with the AIDS virus, arrived on a plane with French first lady Cecilia Sarkozy and the EU's commissioner for foreign affairs, Benita Ferrero-Waldner.
The six came down the steps from the airplane and were welcomed on the tarmac by family members who hugged them, one lifting the Palestinian doctor off the ground.
They were given bouquets of flowers, and Bulgaria's president and prime minister were on hand, greeting the nurses and Sarkozy, who had been part of the delegation that negotiated the group's return.
''I waited so long for this moment,'' nurse Snezhana Dimitrova said before falling in the arms of her loved ones.
Libya accused the six of deliberately infecting more than 400 Libyan children with HIV. Fifty of the children died. The medics, jailed since 1999, deny infecting the children and say their confessions were extracted under torture.
These were trumped up charges, and the trial was marked by a refusal on Libya's part to allow scientific data clearing the health care workers. A campaign on their behalf was started by Nature in Sept 2006
Libya's travesty
Six medical workers in Libya face execution. It is not too late for scientists to speak up on their behalf.
picked up by the science blogs (Declan Butler, senior Nature reporter, in particular was tireless on this), and we played a small role in publicizing the issue.
Can the blogosphere help free the Tripoli six? — innocent medics risking execution in Libya
Major pieces were subsequently published in the NY Times and various medical journals, and Nobel-winning scientists lobbied the Libyan government along with various scientific and medical professional societies.
Letters were written, the story was blogged, pressure was brought to bear, and after years of stalemate, here they are. Kudos to Declan, the science bloggers and everyone who helped reverse this travesty of justice. Activism has its triumphs as well as its frustrations, and today is one of those triumphs.
Thank you all.
This is such good news and a wonderful start to the day.....Thank-you to ALL who worked so hard for this day :)
See little people can and do make a difference, we just have to keep the faith...
Posted by: jackie | July 24, 2007 at 08:09
A very small thing, but a very good thing. We should all be thankful when the forces of darkness are pushed back, even just a bit.
Posted by: William Ockham | July 24, 2007 at 10:12
Excellent news. I note that it was Ms. Sarkozy and the EU Commissioner riding out of Dodge with the liberated. There was a time when the US would have been front and center on something like this. I am curious what role our government played, if any, in today's release; or, if like Cheney with Vietnam, "we had other priorities" and couldn't muster much involvement.
Posted by: bmaz | July 24, 2007 at 10:48
Didn't the EU effectively pay a ransome of some 400 million dollars? For that much money, you would think they could have bought a whole lot more than a doctor and five nurses. From the wapo:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/23/AR2007072300247_2.html?hpid=topnews
Last week, Libyan authorities commuted death sentences against the medics to life in prison following a deal to pay about $1 million to families of each of the infected children. The money was reportedly paid through a special fund created in 2005 by the Libyan and Bulgarian governments, under the auspices of the European Union. Libyan officials said the money came from European countries and charitable organizations, as well as from Libya.
Sarkozy on Tuesday denied that European nations had bought the medics' freedom.
"Neither Europe nor France has made the smallest financial contribution to Libya,"
That's funny. Because it sure seems like the deal went like this: EU agrees to pay Libya $400 million, Libya pardons and releases six prisoners, prisoners go home. Explain for me again how this isn't an example of "European nations [buying] the medics' freedom?"
And bmaz: not that I'm a total cynic, but we just don't value American doctors that much.
Posted by: tekel | July 24, 2007 at 13:12