Libya’s supreme court confirmed Wednesday death sentences for five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor convicted with having infected hundreds of Libyan children with HIV/AIDS.

Six foreign medical workers, former employees at the El-Fath Children's Hospital in Benghazi, Libya, have been given death sentences, the country’s supreme court confirmed Wednesday.

Ashraf al-Hajuj, a Palestinian intern, and Bulgarian nurses Kristiyana Valtcheva, Nasya Nenova, Valentina Siropulo, Valya Chervenyashka, and Snezhana Dimitrova, have been behind bars since February 1999, after being charged with deliberately infecting 426 Libyan children with HIV/AIDS.

The six medical workers were first condemned to death in May 2004.

There had been reports of a financial settlement agreed on with the infected children’s families, but a spokesperson for these families denied the existence of such a report.

The nurses' lawyer, Hari Haralampiev, said on Bulgarian state radio: “The law was eliminated.” Haralampiev added that the defence was hoping for support from the USA and the European Union.

The European Commission urged Libya to refer the case to the Supreme Judicial Council and pardon the medical workers.

“I deeply regret the verdict,” European Union External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said in a statement. She added that the case must “now immediately be referred to a higher authority, the Supreme Judicial Council.”

“I firmly hope that clemency will be granted to the medical staff,” Ferrero-Waldner said.

Of the 426 children infected with HIV/AIDS, 50 have died in the intervening years.

During the trial, experts testified that the AIDS epidemic at the pediatric hospital was caused by improper hygiene and the reuse of syringes.

The whole case has been hugely controversial, with the 2004 verdict adding to the controversy when the six medical workers said they confessed to the accusations brought against them because they were tortured.