Medical personnel granted reprieve by Libyan court

FIVE Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor at the centre of intense international negotiations won a reprieve when Libya's highest court overturned their death sentences on charges they deliberately infected children with AIDS.

The US and European Union have made it clear that their future relations with Moammar Gadhafi depend upon the outcome of the case, but the Libyan leader faces high emotions at home, where relatives of the infected children angrily protested Sunday's decision in Tripoli.

The ruling came three days after US, European and Libyan negotiators reached a deal to set up a fund to help families of the 426 children infected with HIV in the 1990s. About 50 of the children have died, according to a lawyer for the families.