Tripoli/Brussels, 16/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - The affair concerning the Bulgarian healthcare workers and Palestinian doctor held in Libya under sentence of death after being accused of inoculating children with the AIDS virus, seems to be drawing to a conclusion despite confirmation at the end of last week that the death penalty would be upheld by the court of appeal against them. According to press agencies, those sentenced to death signed, on Saturday, in the presence of ambassadors from European countries accredited in Tripoli, a “request for pardon and clemency” from the High Judicial Council to be held on Monday evening. The Libyan lawyer acting on behalf of the nurses, who confirmed that the request had been signed, asserted that the six detainees also pledged to “ensure that they would not take any action against Tripoli” after the eight years spent in Libyan prisons. The commitment comes with an indemnity agreement being finalised with the families of the contaminated children. The families have announced that compensation by way of one million dollars per child had been put to them and that they had agreed. The agreement between the families of the Libyan children infected with AIDS and the special compensation fund created under the aegis of the European Union was announced on 10 July by the Kadhafi Foundation, a charity presided by Seif Al-Islam Kadhafi, the son of the Libyan leader. Cited by the press, the spokesman for the families, Idriss Lagha, nonetheless said that an “agreement will not be signed until the money is effectively paid to the families”. (fb)