Urgent Action Needed! Contact your members of Congress TODAY for the Release of the Nurses and Physician Sentenced to Death in Libya!
01/10/07
ANA needs your help! Contact your members of Congress TODAY and urge them to pressure the Libyan government to rescind the death sentences of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor in Libya.
ANA condemns the latest verdict in the trial of the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor in Libya. These health professionals, imprisoned since 1999, are accused of having allegedly infected 400 Libyan children with the AIDS virus. ANA recognizes the pain of the children and their families and the need to mobilize resources for treatment. However, ANA considers this verdict to be a grave miscarriage of justice against the imprisoned health professionals. ANA urges the United States government to continue its efforts to intervene on behalf of the health professionals and to consider sanctions against the Libyan government that would be appropriate given the untenable circumstances. But we need YOUR help! Go to http://rnaction.org/campaign/bulgarian_nurses and contact your members of Congress TODAY!
Action Needed – Join International Efforts Calling for the Release of the Bulgarian Nurses and Palestinian Physician Sentenced to Death in Libya.
01/08/07
ANA continues to be extremely concerned about the five Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian physician. In its December 19 statement ANA urged the United States government to continue its efforts to intervene on behalf of the health professionals and to consider sanctions against the Libyan government that would be appropriate given the untenable circumstances.
ACTION NEEDED:
Be on the lookout for ANA’s grassroots campaign dedicated to communicating with members of Congress on this urgent matter. A Call to Action will be posted very soon on NursingWorld.org and through ANA’s grassroots network to join this critical communication effort.
In addition, the Belgian Federation for Nurses, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) member national nurses association in Belgium, has initiated a petition to Libyan authorities supporting the joint ICN and World Medical Association statement (www.icn.ch/PR24_06.htm#statement) and urging the Libyan High Court to drop the death sentence against the five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian physician. Sign on to the petition at www.fnib-lybie.be/.
Thank you in advance for your ACTION!
ANA Statement on the Bulgarian Nurses Death Sentence
12/19/06
The American Nurses Association (ANA) condemns the latest verdict in the trial of the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor in Libya. ANA Statement | INC/WMA Joint Statement | Past Action
UPDATE on Bulgarian Nurses--Action Needed
12/14/06
The World Medical Association and the International Council of Nurses Plead to Drop Death Sentences against Doctor and Nurses after New Scientific Evidence...
An urgent plea for the death sentence to be dropped against five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor accused of deliberately infecting Libyan children with HIV, has come from the representative bodies of the world's physicians and nurses.
The World Medical Association (WMA) and the International Council of Nurses (ICN) have sent a joint letter to the African Union, Amnesty International, the Libyan Government, the Council of Europe and Physicians for Human Rights, drawing their attention to new scientific findings casting doubt on the evidence against the accused health professionals.
Now they are urging nurses worldwide to do the same. Download sample letter (.doc)
Please send your letters ASAP – prior to December 19, 2006 to:
Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Department of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520
and
Col. Muammar Abu Minyar al-QADHAFI
Leader of the Revolution
Office of the Leader of the Revolution
Tripoli
Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Email: info@algathafi.org
The ICN urges nurses to write or e-mail their elected officials, the European Union president (Mr. Rene van der Linden, pace.com@coe.int) and the African Union president (Mr. Denis Sassou-Nguesso, KonareAO@africa-union.org), requesting they pressure the Libyan government to rescind the death sentences.
An article published December 7 in the magazine Nature, reported the findings of an international team of scientists that analyzed samples taken from the infected patients. They found that the HIV subtype involved infected patients in Libya well before the medical workers arrived in 1998.
The doctor and nurses, who have been in prison since 1999, face a sentencing court scheduled for December 19 in Tripoli. They were condemned to death in 2004, but in 2005 the Libyan Supreme Court overturned the verdicts and ordered a retrial on the grounds that there were "irregularities" in the arrests and interrogations of the accused.
Recent news reports on the status of the five nurses and doctor include:
On November 22, 2006, the Interior Minister Roumen Petkov met the five Bulgarian nurses in Judeida prison. He promised to use all of Bulgaria’s resources to guarantee a positive sentencing outcome. Any decision other than the finding of the nurses innocent will not be accepted, he said.
During court sessions in 2006, the Libyan prosecutors demanded the confirmation of the previous death sentences.
The WMA, which represents more than eight million physicians worldwide, and the ICN, which is a federation of 129 national nurses' associations representing 13 million nurses worldwide, have repeatedly called for the death penalty to be rescinded.
ANA, as part of ICN's 129 national nursing associations across the world, is encouraging all nurses to speak out against the injustice facing the imprisoned health professionals by communicating directly with government leaders. ANA also continues to urge the United States government to remain vocal in expressing its concern for the health professionals and advocate for a just, fair and expeditious trial.
Past Action...
WMA AND ICN Plead to Drop Death Sentences Against Doctor and Nurses After New Scientific Evidence
12/11/06
An urgent plea for the death sentence to be dropped against five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, accused of deliberately infecting Libyan children with HIV, has come from the representative bodies of the world's physicians and nurses.
The World Medical Association (WMA) and the International Council of Nurses (ICN) have sent a joint letter to the African Union, Amnesty International, the Libyan Government, the Council of Europe and Physicians for Human Rights drawing their attention to new scientific findings casting doubt on the evidence against the accused health professionals. More...
Call to Action: Bulgarian Nurses on Trial in Libya
09/14/06
The International Council of Nurses (ICN) and the ANA urge all nurses to take action regarding the trial of five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian physician imprisoned in Libya for allegedly infecting Libyan children with HIV. The health professionals have been imprisoned since 1999, suffered physical and mental torture and endured the agony of repeated trial cancellations, threats of execution and a compromising legal defense. We must join together in calling for 1) a just, fair and expeditious trail, 2) their release to house arrest for the duration of the legal proceedings, and 3) immediate access to lawyers of their choice and the expert witnesses they require.
ANA and ICN are very concerned for the health professionals whom we believe to be innocent and for the infected children and their families. We call on all interested parties to work toward a speedy and mutually agreeable resolution that will see justice for the imprisoned health professionals, address the pain of the families, and mobilize resources for the treatment of the surviving children.
Action is needed now!
Write a letter (download sample letter) to Libyan President, Col. Muammar Abu Minyar al-QADHAFI, urging him to ensure a fair and expeditious trial and release of the detainees to house arrest.
Col. Muammar Abu Minyar al-QADHAFI
Leader of the Revolution
Office of the Leaders of the Revolution
Tripoli
Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Write a letter/e-mail (download sample letter) to Secretary Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Department of State, the EU President and the African Union President urging them to pressure the Libyan government on this issue. For letters to the U.S. State Department and Secretary Rice, please acknowledge that the State Department has been actively involved in diplomacy around this issue. Urge Secretary Rice to continue actively engaging in this very serious situation.
The Honorable Condoleezza Rice
United States Department of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520
202-647-2283 - fax
Council of Europe
Mr. René van der Linden
President, Parliamentary Assembly
67075 Strasbourg Cedex
France
Tel: +33 3 88 41 31 93
Fax: +33 3 90 21 41 34
Email: pace.com@coe.int
African Union
Mr. Denis Sassou-Nguesso
President of the Republic of Congo
The Chairperson African Union
P.O. Box: 3243
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel.: (251-11) 551 38 22
Fax: (251-11) 551 93 21
E-mail: KonareAO@africa-union.org
You may also consider communicating your concern for the fate of these colleagues to the Members of Congress representing your state.
ANA and ICN Action
Letter to President Bush - May 26, 2004
ANA Press Release– June 4, 2004
House of Delegates action – June 2004
Resolution
| Backgrounder
ICN Press Release - 9/12/06
ANA Press Release - 9/18/06
ANA letter to Secretary Rice - 9/19/06
ANA Statement on Verdict - 12/19/06
INC/WMA Joint Statement - 12/19/06
ICN 2007 Conference - Call for Abstracts Deadline
News 
