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Correspondence: 114 Nobel laureates call for fair trial for Tripoli Six
More than one hundred Nobel laureates have written to Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi to express their concern over the death-penalty case of 5 Bulgarian nurses, and a Palestinian doctor, accused of deliberately infecting more than 400 children with HIV in 1998.
In the letter, to be published online this week by Nature, 114 laureates affirm the need to ensure a fair trial, and for the appropriate authorities to permit evidence from internationally recognized AIDS experts to be used in the case. It notes that: "Strong scientific evidence is needed to establish the cause of this infection. However, independent science-based evidence from international experts has so far not been permitted in court."
The next, and probably last, session of the trial is scheduled on 4 November, with a verdict expected shortly thereafter. If the six are convicted, the case would go to appeal in the Supreme Court.
For background, and recent news on the case, see Nature's Focus at:
http://www.nature.com/nature/focus/aidsmedicslibya/index.html
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Rich Roberts, 1993 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine
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