TRIPOLI EU officials negotiating to free six medical staff jailed in Libya for infecting 426 children with HIV have agreed to provide medical care for the children in European hospitals.

However, the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who have been sentenced to death will not be freed until agreement has been reached about compensation to the children’s families. Libya is demanding €10 million (£6.7 million) for each family, but Bulgaria and its allies argue that it would be an admission of guilt. The nurses, jailed since 1999, say they are innocent and were tortured to confess.

Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister, Ivailo Kalfin, confirmed that negotiations were continuing, but said that a deal was far from being reached. The EU has also agreed a €2.5 million aid package to help to fight an HIV outbreak in Benghazi, where the children were infected. (Reuters/AP)

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