Editing HIV trial in Libya (section)

==El-Fatih epidemic in Libya and accusations==
The El-Fatih [[epidemic]] is the largest documented incident of [[nosocomial infection|nosocomial]] (hospital-induced) infection of [[Human immunodeficiency virus|HIV]] in history.<ref name="Nosocomial Outbreak of Multiple Bloodborne Viral Infections Perrin et al.">{{cite journal|author1=Luc Perrin|author2=Sabine Yerly, Rafael Quadri, Francesco Negro, Klara Posfay Barbe, Jean-Jacques Cheseaux, Philippe Burgisser, Claire-Anne Siegrist|date=10 July 2001|title=Nosocomial Outbreak of Multiple Bloodborne Viral Infections|journal=[[The Journal of Infectious Diseases]]|volume=184|pmid=11443566|doi=10.1086/322036|issue=3|pages=369–72|doi-access=free}}</ref> The Libyan public was enraged and many foreign medical workers were arrested; six were eventually charged. Libyan leader [[Muammar Gaddafi]] initially blamed the [[CIA]] or [[Mossad]] for plotting to carry out a deadly experiment on the Libyan children.<ref>{{cite news|last=Charles|first=Bremner|title=Gaddafi faces outrage as nurses on mercy mission are sentenced to die|work=[[The Times]]|date=20 December 2006|location=London|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/global/article758547.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090516014024/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/global/article758547.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 May 2009}}</ref>

The crisis first came to light in November 1998 when Libyan ''[[La (magazine)|La]]'' magazine (issue 78) published an [[exposé (journalism)|exposé]] about AIDS at the hospital.<ref name="Banned La magazine Aids expose">{{cite journal |date=November 1998 |title=Banned "La" magazine Aids expose |journal=Former "La" Magazine Benghazi, Libya |issue=78 |url=http://www.almanara.org/images/aids/La%20Magazine%20November%201998.htm |access-date=23 December 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240524043202/https://www.webcitation.org/5Mem2Kvyz?url=http://www.almanara.org/images/aids/La%20Magazine%20November%201998.htm |archive-date=24 May 2024}}</ref><ref name="DERSPIEGEL - Bulgarian Nurses Face Death Penalty in Libya">{{cite news|last=Bednarz|first=Dieter|author2=Renate Flottau|author3=Stefan Simons|author4=Bernhard Zand|title=Bulgarian Nurses Face Death Penalty in Libya|publisher=SPIEGEL Magazine English Sit|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,383903,00.html|date=9 November 2005|url-status=live|archive-date=3 August 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080803160936/http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,383903,00.html}}</ref> In December, the Association of Libyan Writers reported over 60 cases of AIDS so far that year in Libya. ''La'' interviewed Sulaiman al-Ghemari, Libyan Minister for Health, who told them that most of the cases concerned children. Parents believed their children were infected through blood transfusions in Benghazi's main children's hospital.<ref name="LibyanewsandViews interview Sulaiman al-Ghemari, Libyan Minister for Health, most cases among children">{{cite web|title=LA" interview Sulaiman al-Ghemari, Libyan Minister for Health, most cases among children|publisher=LibyanewsandViews|date=31 December 1998|url=http://www.libyanet.com/1298nwsc.htm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080617120207/http://www.libyanet.com/1298nwsc.htm|archive-date=17 June 2008}}</ref>
Although ''La'' magazine was shut down, it was eventually revealed that over 400 children had been infected. Libya requested and received an emergency [[WHO]] team, which was sent in December and stayed through January 1999. The WHO team issued a classified report on the situation.{{citation needed|date=July 2014}}

In February 1999, the Bulgarian embassy announced that 23 Bulgarian specialists had been "kidnapped." A week later they were informed by Libyan authorities that "precautionary measures" had been taken against Bulgarian doctors and nurses working at the [[Benghazi]] Children’s Hospital. Most of the nurses were recruited by Bulgarian state-owned company [[Expomed]] to work at the Libyan hospital, where pay was considerably higher than they could receive at home, beginning work in February 1998. On 7 March 1999, six members of the group subjected to "precautionary measures" were formally arrested on a warrant in connection with the case of infecting children in Benghazi with HIV.<ref name="Bulgarian News Agency, The trial in Libya 'Chronology of Events' 12 14 1998-12 8 2004">
{{cite web|title=The trial in Libya 'Chronology of Events' December 14, 1998 through December 8, 2004 English version|url=http://www.bta.bg/site/libya/en/02chronology.htm|publisher=[[Bulgarian News Agency]]|date=18 April 2005|archive-date=3 August 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080803160936/http://www.bta.bg/site/libya/en/02chronology.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The group consisted of [[Ashraf al-Hadzhudzh]], a Palestinian intern, and Bulgarian nurses Kristiyana Valtcheva, Nasya Nenova, Valentina Siropulo, Valya Chervenyashka and Snezhana Dimitrova. They later became widely known as "the Benghazi Six".<ref name="bengazi6advocate">{{cite journal|title=Free the Benghazi six|journal=[[The Lancet]]|volume=368|issue=9550|page=1844|date=25 November 2006|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(06)69749-3|pmid=17126697|last1=The Lancet|s2cid=35534877|doi-access=free}}</ref>