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22nd September 2006

Free the Tripoli Six

posted in - General, - Palmdoc |

Decan Butler, reporter at Nature, has thrown the gauntlet at the entire Blogosphere to see if we can help publicise a travesty of justice affecting 5 Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who face the death sentence for allegedly infecting 400 children with HIV. The story is highlighted in this week’s editorial in the prestigious science publication, Nature : Libya’s travesty. Independent assessment has it that these medical personnel are innocent.

The principles of law and science have the common aim of discovering the truth. A previous assessment of the case by two prominent AIDS researchers, Luc Montagnier and Vittorio Colizzi, concluded that the charges are false, that the medics are innocent, and that the infections resulted from poor hygiene in Libya’s hospitals.

Time is running out for them. Free the Tripoli Six!!!

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This entry was posted on Friday, September 22nd, 2006 at 6:26 am and is filed under - General, - Palmdoc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

4 Responses to “Free the Tripoli Six”

  1. 1
    Gravatar techeah Says:
    September 22nd, 2006 at 9:27 pm

    The facts to this case remains hazy. Infecting 400 children with HIV is unheard of in this part of the world and speaks volumes about hygiene in Libyan hospitals, assuming the arguments are accurate. This particular HIV strain is also said to be more virulent hence the degree of spread. Who should be responsible then? There was an obvious negligent practise of not sterilising medical equipments. Was this scenario just unfortunate or could it have been prevented? Unfortunately, politics entered the fray complicating matters and erasing medical arguments or factual data from the courts. There is something missing in this story.

  2. 2
    Gravatar Palmdoc Says:
    September 25th, 2006 at 6:46 am

    It’s clearly a tragic failure of the healthcare system in question. The workers were part of that system no doubt, but it seems they are being made the scape goats. Do you think that the punishment merits facing the firing squad?
    Here’s an update on Science Bloggers and the Tripoli Six
    http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2006/09/update_on_the_tripoli_six_camp_1.php

  3. 3
    Gravatar Palmdoc Says:
    October 15th, 2006 at 12:59 pm

    Tripoli Six campaign’s new and perilous phase

    On October 31 their trial resumes, with a death sentence again looming. For those not familiar with the case, The New York Times today summarized the situation in a strongly worded editorial:
    Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor are facing the death penalty in Libya based on preposterous charges that they deliberately infected hundreds of children with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS. This looming miscarriage of justice demands a strong warning to the Libyan leader, Muammar el-Qaddafi, that his efforts to join the ranks of peaceable nations will suffer if the medical workers are made the scapegoats for the failure of Libya’s own health system.
    The doctor and nurses, who had been working at a hospital in Benghazi, were arrested in 1999. They confessed under torture, according to human rights organizations, but later protested their innocence. The charges that they deliberately infected more than 400 children were clearly bogus.

  4. 4
    Gravatar Palmdoc Says:
    October 26th, 2006 at 7:20 am

    Top US scientists weigh in on Tripoli 6 campaign

    Gallo joins HIV co-discoverer, Dr. Luc Montagnier, in condemning the Libyan miscarriage of justice. Montagnier, Gallo and Italian HIV virologist Vittorio Colizzi have examined the scientific evidence and found it grossly deficient:

    The scientific evidence supported the medics’ innocence, says Vittorio Colizzi, a virologist at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata” and an expert witness in the case. But it was disregarded by a Benghazi judge in 2004 in favor of damning testimony by Libyan doctors that was “full of errors and misunderstandings of basic molecular biology.”

    Gallo is especially fierce in his comments, threatening to launch a full scale scientific boycott of Libya:

    If the medics are not given a reprieve, says Gallo, “I will do everything I possibly can, starting with a call for an emergency session of the [U.S.] Academies of Science” to consider a “full scientific embargo.” And if Libya decides to free the medics, Gallo says international praise and support should be equally swift: “They need to know that this virus is a problem for all of us, and we scientists can help.”

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