Libyan HIV outbreak in children was deliberate

[sue-bert]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/africa/08/08/libya.aids.trial.reut/index.html

I was positively sick reading this article. What possible motivation would somebody have for doing this to innocent newborn babies???

Expert: Libyan HIV outbreak in children was deliberate

Tuesday, August 8, 2006; Posted: 11:44 a.m. EDT (15:44 GMT)

TRIPOLI, Libya (Reuters) -- Someone deliberately infected hundreds of children with HIV/AIDS at a Libyan hospital, Libyan experts on Tuesday told a court retrying five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor accused of causing the outbreak.

[msnicolea]

There are no words.

[jnettie]

Do you really think they did it or do you think the Libyan government wants to blame them for it?

[msnicolea]

I wouldn't be surprised if a pharmaceutical company was at the heart of this. Maybe it's because I just watched The Constant Gardener, but I really believe there are some evil companies out there purposefully harming the world's poorest.

[sue-bert]

Do you really think they did it or do you think the Libyan government wants to blame them for it?
I have no idea. Either way, I feel terrible for those kids and their parents.

[kris97]

I was just going to bring up the Constant Chatter. It's chilling when movies like that turn out to be true-to-life.

[kris97]

I was just going to bring up the Constant Chatter. It's chilling when movies like that turn out to be true-to-life.

Okay, clearly (1) I meant the Constant Gardener; and (2) I spend way too much time on this site!

[BTB]

The article is very unclear on what purportedly happened and on what competing allegations are. This in particular is suspicious:

The medics, Palestinian Ashraf Alhajouj and Bulgarians Snezhana Dimitrova, Nasya Nenova, Valentina Siropolu, Christiana Valcheva and Valia Cherveniashka have pleaded not guilty and said they had been beaten or tortured to make them confess.

The U.S. has long backed Bulgaria and the European Union in saying the medics, in jail in Libya since 1999, are innocent.

Haouissa has declined to allow international HIV/AIDS experts to testify in defense of the accused. International experts told the first trial that the outbreak at the Benghazi hospital where the accused worked began before they arrived.

[jnettie]

BTB...that's exactly what made me uncertain, the fact that outside experts were not allowed to defend them.

Then, my inner conspiracy therorist thinks it's all too possible....

[PG-rated]

Unfortunately, many governments will go to great lengths to avoid taking responsibility for not working to stem the spread of HIV within their populations. This sounds like more of the same.