ANA Condemns Death Sentence Of Bulgarian Nurses

Washington, DC - The American Nurses Association (ANA) has urged both President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell to intervene on behalf of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian physician who have been sentenced to death by a Libyan court. The six health professionals were arrested in 1999 and falsely accused of spreading HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, in a children's hospital in Benghazi, Libya.

World-renowned expert Dr. Luc Montagnier, who co-discovered HIV, testified during their trial that the HIV outbreak began before the accused began working at the hospital and was more likely caused by poor hygiene and the reuse of infected equipment, such as needles. The court dismissed the case last year due to insufficient evidence. However, the prosecution resubmitted the charges and, on May 6, the court handed down the death sentence against the six.

"Since the verdict of death was re-instated, health care organizations and governments throughout the world have expressed their revulsion toward the verdict and have urged the Libyan government to reverse the sentence and free these health professionals," said ANA President Barbara A. Blakeney, MS, APRN,BC, ANP, in letters to Bush and Powell "ANA urges you to immediately communicate with Col. Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi and other officials within the Libyan government, to speak out against this injustice," Blakeney said.

ANA, the professional association for registered nurses and the U.S. representative to the International Council of Nurses, considers these death sentences to be a serious, miscarriage of justice that must be addressed.

"It would appear that the Libyan government is trying to place the blame for a national tragedy on innocent foreign health care workers," said ANA chief executive officer Linda J. Stierle, MSN, RN, CNAA,BC. "We must not let their lives be sacrificed," she added.

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The American Nurses Association is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's 2.7 million registered nurses (RNs) through its 54 constituent member associations. The ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

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