European leaders on Tuesday condemned a Libyan court's death sentence on six foreign medical workers, with EU officials warning Tripoli against carrying out the executions.
Human rights groups joined the chorus of outrage, painting the trial process as deeply flawed and calling for the immediate release of the five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor convicted of deliberately infecting hundreds of children with the AIDS virus.
In Sofia, Bulgarian President Georgy Parvanov and Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev issued a joint statement unequivocally rejecting the court's decision.
"We urge the Libyan authorities to intervene at once, speedily review this ruling, overturn the absurd sentences and release [the defendants]," the statement said.
EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini voiced "great disappointment" at the sentence and warned that it could harm Libya's efforts to improve its ties with Europe.
The ruling is "an obstacle to cooperation with the EU, [which] must be based on fundamental rights," Frattini said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel slammed the death sentences as a "terrible ruling."
"I hope and appeal to the government [of Tripoli] that they are given a chance. It's a terrible ruling, sentence," Merkel said.
The six were convicted of infecting more than 400 children with HIV while they were working at al-Fateh hospital in Benghazi. More than 53 have since died.
In France, President Jacques Chirac said he was "personally shocked" by the sentence, and said France would pursue efforts to actively convince Libya to find "a solution that conforms with justice."
In a phone conversation with Bulgaria's Parvanov, Chirac said that France had "immediately deplored the sentence ... and had appealed for clemency from Libyan authorities."
The European Commission said the sentence was unacceptable, voiced "serious concerns" about the trial process and echoed calls for the case to be taken up by a higher authority.
Lawyers for the defendants said they would appeal the sentence to Libya's Supreme Court.
The EU Presidency, currently held by Finland, said it "expects" that the higher court would enable a "just, equitable and humanitarian solution" to the case.
The White House in Washington said it was "disappointed" by the verdict, while French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy urged the Libyan legal authorities to show clemency and stressed that both France and the European Union were "fundamentally opposed" to the death penalty.
"These are people who deserve to go home and we are very disappointed at this verdict," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said as she met the Bulgarian foreign minister. "We will continue to work for their early return to Bulgaria."
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