The EU condemned death sentences handed in Libya to...

The EU condemned death sentences handed in Libya to five Bulgarian health workers and a Palestinian doctor for spreading AIDS, saying they cast a "shadow" over improving ties with Tripoli.
European Commission chief Romano Prodi, who a week previously had hosted a landmark visit by Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi during which the issue was raised, said he was disappointed at the ruling and urged it to be reviewed.
"The commission is extremely preoccupied and deeply disappointed by the court's ruling," he said.
"The commission remains in contact with the Libyan authorities and will urge them to reconsider the case to reach a satisfactory situation at the soonest."
EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten expressed his "considerable shock and concern" at the news. "It does cast a shadow over a relationship which we hoped was getting better," he said.
The court in the northern Libyan city of Benghazi justified its sentence of death by firing squad as in line with a law which stipulates capital punishment for whoever causes the death of more than one person.
The Bulgarians and Palestinian were found guilty of infecting around 400 children with HIV by injecting them with tainted blood products.
According to the official verdict, five Bulgarians and the Palestinian were sentenced to death, while a Bulgarian doctor was jailed for four years in a separate case.
In Dublin the EU's Irish presidency expressed its "consternation" to Libya over the decision, an EU official said.
Libyan Foreign Minister Abdulrahman Mohamed Shalgham was told of the "consternation in the EU" during a meeting in Dublin with representatives of the bloc, an EU official said.
"We conveyed the Union's profound concern at today's verdict. We also told them we were profoundly disturbed by the conviction of these defendants," said Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen.
The death sentences were a "very negative surprise" Cowen said.
In Brussels a commission spokesman said that for the EU "the case is not closed. There is a possibility of appeal and other possibilities. We are not in a situation where a final decision has been taken."
Prodi noted that the EU "has repeatedly expressed its serious concerns regarding the conduct of the investigations, the treatment of the defendants and the delays in bringing the case to a conclusion."
"It has also expressed concerns about the lack of compelling evidence of the guilt of the defendants," he added.