Libya hit back at US condemnation of death sentences pronounced by a Libyan court on five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor for the spread of AIDS in a children's hospital.
"The United States has no right to speak of human rights," government spokesman Hassuna Shaush told a press conference here late Friday.
Referring to the abuse of prisoners in a US-run jail in Iraq, Shaush said: "Before voicing an opinion on the Benghazi verdict, the United States would have done better to apologize for Abu Ghraib.
"The United States means that the death of more than 400 Libyan children is acceptable but the punishment of the guilty is unacceptable," he said.
"We did not want to politicize this matter, but the American reactions oblige us to reply."
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Thursday, hours after the sentences were passed: "We find the verdict that was pronounced in the court to be unacceptable."
He said the legal and human rights of the accused had been violated numerous times since the allegations were first made five years ago and vowed to continue to raise the matter with Libyan officials.
"We recognize the great human tragedy that occurred in Benghazi and our deepest sympathy is extended to the families of the 400 children who were infected with the HIV/AIDS virus," he said.
But he added that the accused, who have a right to appeal the verdicts, should be released and allowed to return home.
A Bulgarian doctor was also jailed for four years by the same court in a separate case.
Boucher said the US diplomats attached to the newly opened US interests section in Tripoli had attended the trial and would be following up on the matter with Libyan officials.
"We urge the government of Libya to take steps to resolve this case quickly," he said.
The lawyers for the defendants have said their clients are being used as scapegoats for inadequate sterilization of instruments at the pediatric hospital in Benghazi before the Bulgarians and the Palestinian arrived in 1998.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
At a calligraphy class in Hanoi, Hoang Thi Thanh Huyen slides her brush across the page to form the letters and tonal marks of Vietnam’s unique modern script, in part a legacy of French colonial rule. The history of romanized Vietnamese, or Quoc Ngu, links the arrival of the first Christian missionaries, colonization by the French and the rise to power of the Communist Party of Vietnam. It is now reflected in the country’s “bamboo diplomacy” approach of seeking strength through flexibility, or looking to stay on good terms with the world’s major powers. A month after Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) visited,