Six Resentenced to Death in Libyan AIDS Case – washingtonpost.com
Six foreign health workers were condemned to death by a Libyan court Tuesday on charges they deliberately infected more than 400 children with the HIV virus, in a lengthy case that has set back Libya’s attempts to repair relations with the United States and Europe. The sentence drew immediate strong condemnation from Washington, European capitals and medical groups, which said the real culprit appeared to be poor hygiene and medical services in the hospital where the children were infected.
In case you haven’t been following this:
Independent medical studies have shown that the infections, which prosecutors allege occurred in the late 1990s at a hospital in the Mediterranean city of Benghazi, predated the 1998 arrival of the six workers at the hospital by at least several years.
Geez.
Independent judiciary and Libya under Mummar Quadaffi don’t really sound like they belong togehter.
This is a frightening story. It makes me wonder if this is going to be another avenue in which radicals can stick it to Westerners in that part of the world. My mother and I almost lost our lives during an attack on our embassy in Damascus (’97, when they were angry about something Clinton had done). I was hospitalized with the effects of the tear-gas used by the Marines Sec. Guards to hold off the mobs. (You don’t know how glad I was to get out of the airplane when it landed in the good ole US of A…)
Sorry–my date was wrong, that particular attack was in ’98. Here’s the link:http:
//www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/iraq/stories/end122098.htm
I’ve been blogging about it, and I have many background links, as well as action links from the American Nurses Association and the International Council of Nurses. The NY Times blog, the Lede, has a good post about it, as well, with many background links.
I hope that this story stays front and center in the health and science communities, becasue the State Department isn’t reacting strongly at all.
Thanks for posting it on GruntDoc.