http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=524323§ion=newsTALLOIRES, France (Reuters) - Western countries criticising Libya for sentencing five Bulgarian nurses to death should show compassion for the 426 children they were convicted of infecting with the deadly HIV virus, Libya says.
Speaking at a symposium in the Lake Annecy resort town of Talloires in eastern France, Libyan Prime Minister Shokri Ghanem denied he was offering a deal to ease the death sentence by firing squad, which he said was handed down last month after a fair trial by a court in Benghazi.
"I'm not suggesting a deal, but a show of compassion so the families of the victims at least will feel that people are sharing with them the suffering inflicted on them," Ghanem told journalists on Sunday.
He declined to elaborate on how this could be done and what effect it could have.
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