Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who today lost their appeal against a death sentence handed down for infecting 426 Libyan children with HIV may still be saved by a deal being negotiated behind the scenes.

Earlier this morning Libya’s Supreme Court ruled against the six, who maintain that they were forced to confess under duress for the tragedy at a hospital in the Mediterranean city of Benghazi. Fifty-six of the children have since died.

But EU leaders said they were still hopeful a solution could be found to free them and Libya’s foreign minister said the sentences will go to the High Judicial Council on Monday when the decision will be reviewed.

Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the EU Commission, told the European Parliament: “We regret that these decisions have been taken, but I would also like to express my confidence that a solution will be found.”

President Georgy Parvanov of Bulgaria also told the press: “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."

Hopes were raised for a deal to win their release yesterday when Libya’s Gaddafi Foundation charity said it had reached an accord with the children’s families that “puts an end to the crisis”.

Libyan officials say the Council would only agree to the release of the nurses if a settlement were reached in private talks between the families and the European Union on funding for the children’s medical care.

Behind the scenes talks have been taking place between the EU and the association of the families of the children on a possible deal to provide a fund of tens of millions of dollars for the families to pay for the children’s future care.

Libya calls the cash “compensation” - a term Bulgaria rejects as it says it implies the medics are guilty.

Feim Chaushev, Bulgaria’s deputy foreign minister, told Reuters on hearing news of the ruling: “What matters most now is to see the High Judicial Council convening as soon as possible and taking a quick decision, which will put an end to this issue. We all hope for a speedy solution.”

The families have asked for €10 million (£6.8 million) for each child, far in excess of what observers say the EU has been prepared to pay. The Gaddafi Foundation charity, run by a son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam, has been a central player in facilitating the talks.

Experts said that the ruling completed the role of the judiciary in the highly-politicised trial and Libya’s executive can now step in and seek to secure their release subject to a deal with the families of the children.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German Foreign Minister, who visited the nurses in Tripoli in June, said,“We are shocked that after more than six years there is still no end to their incarceration, to their ordeal.

“But I hope that the talks we held with Libyan and European officials while Germany held the presidency of the European Union have helped to pave the way for their eventual release.

"It is now up to Libya’s Supreme Judicial Council to take a responsible decision.

“We feel for the families who have lost children as a result of the blood infection and will make a contribution within a European framework to improve the treatment of the infected children as far as possible.”

Pascale Andreani, the French foreign ministry spokeswoman, also regretted the Supreme Court’s judgement. She said France would await Monday’s meeting and noted “with interest” the report of a deal

Saad Djebbar, a London based Algerian lawyer, said the Gaddafi Foundation’s announcement of a deal with the families on the eve of the ruling appeared to be an attempt by the authorities to tell international public opinion: “Don’t worry. The sentences will be commuted.”

The case has blocked Libya’s efforts to deepen links to the West after shaking off decades of isolation in 2003 when it scrapped its programme of prohibited weapons. The six medics were sentenced to death in December after being convicted of infecting 426 Libyan children with the virus in the 1990s.

Some Western scientists say negligence and poor hospital hygiene were the real culprits and that the six were made into scapegoats.

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