August 21
LIBYA/BULGARIA:
Libya urges Bulgaria to pay to lift death sentences in HIV case
Libya is calling on the Bulgarian government to negotiate the payment of a
sum of money to win amnesty for 6 medics - 5 Bulgarians and a Palestinian
- who were sentenced to death for allegedly infecting 400 Libyan children
with HIV. The medics, who were arrested in 1999 and sentenced to death in
2004, maintain their innocence and say they have been tortured.
Islamic law allows a death sentence to be avoided if the victims' families
receive a "diya," or blood money payment. Libyan officials have suggested
the death sentences could be reconsidered if the families are compensated
and those children who remain alive are treated. Bulgaria has rejected
Libya's previous calls for compensation to the families.
(source: Associated Press)
IRAQ:
Iraq insists on reinstating death penalty
The Iraqi government on Sunday defended its decision to reinstate the
death penalty, saying it is a must to guarantee security.
"I understand the position of international organizations such as the
United Nation, which is against the death penalty," government spokesman
Leith Kubba told reporters.
"But we want a sentence which punishes the person who commits murder
crime," he insisted.
UN special envoy to Iraq Ashraf Qazi on Saturday urged the Iraqi
government to withdraw from the country's 1st executions since 2003 which
will take place in the next few days.
Iraq's Vice President Adel Abdel Mehdi has authorized on Wednesday the
execution of 3 men for kidnapping policemen and raping Iraqi women.
(source: Xinhua.net)
