Libya acknowledges medics’ torture
Saif al-Islam says the whole issue was a game of blackmail initiated by Europeans.
The medics – the Palestinian doctor and five Bulgarian nurses – were convicted of deliberately infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV, the virus that causes Aids.
They were freed on July 24 after spending eight years in jail.
Ashraf Alhajouj, the doctor, plans to file a complaint against Libya before a UN human rights panel, his lawyer said on Tuesday.
The doctor said he was tortured to make his confession.
Saif al-Islam acknowledged that the investigations were not carried out in a professional and scientific way, but said the case amounted to blackmail vis-a-vis Europeans.
He said the process was initiated by the Europeans.
Saif al-Islam told Newsweek magazine on Wednesday: “Yeah, it’s an immoral game, but they set the rules of the game, the Europeans, and now they are paying the price … Everyone tries to play with this card to advance his own interest back home.”
In the interview to Al Jazeera, Saif al-Islam vouched for the innocence of the medics, but said that conflicting reports implicating them had been submitted to the Libyan courts.
The courts had relied on these documents, he said.