A Libyan court has confirmed death sentences on six foreign medical workers convicted of infecting children with HIV.
The five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were not in court for the verdict, which was announced on Wednesday, a day after a compensation deal was reportedly sealed with the children's families.
Snezhana Dimitrova, Nasya Nenova, Valya Cherveniashka, Valentina Siropulo, Kristiana Valcheva and Ashraf Juma Hajuj have been imprisoned since February 1999.
Fathi Dahan, the chief judge, said: "In the name of the people, the court has decided not to accept the defendants' appeal."
Amr El-Kahky, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tripoli, said: "This is the final verdict, it cannot not be appealed.
"The only way out is a pardon from the Libyan government and it is expected this will happen later today."
'Hopes dashed'
Tarek Bazley, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Sofia, said: "This was no surprise. The family's hopes have been repeatedly dashed."
The six were convicted of infecting 438 children with HIV-tainted blood at a hospital in the Mediterranean city of Benghazi.
Fifty-six of the children have since died.
All six have maintained their innocence and say they confessed under duress.
Foreign health experts have cited poor hygiene as the probable cause of the epidemic in Benghazi, Libya's second city.
Compromise deal
The families of the five nurses had demanded that the women be acquitted, saying that a new death sentence followed by an expected pardon later would not be justice for them.
A representative of the victims' families has said that a compromise deal would see the death penalty commuted to jail terms, which could be served in the medics' country of origin, as Libya and Bulgaria have an extradition treaty.
The doctor was recently granted a Bulgarian passport, meaning he could also benefit from such an arrangement.
George Bush, the US president, had urged Kadhafi in a letter delivered on Monday to help in the dispute over the fate of the medics, the White House said on Tuesday.
Bush told the Libyan leader that the case and lingering issues tied to the 1989 Lockerbie bombing needed his attention.