[JURIST] A lawyer for the Palestinian doctor jailed and allegedly tortured with five Bulgarian nurses for allegedly purposely infecting children with HIV in Libya said Tuesday that he intends to file a complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee [official website] against Libya for the abuse Ashraf Alhajouj says he suffered while in detention. Alhajouj's lawyer told Reuters that the complaint will be filed "in September over his torture, delayed proceedings and abuse of evidence among other things." The UN complaint will be filed despite a recent report that the medics were only permitted to leave Libya because they signed documents releasing their right to sue Tripoli for torture [EUObserver report].

The medics – five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor given Bulgarian citizenship – were released by Libyan authorities in late July under the pretense that they would serve their life sentences [JURIST reports] in Bulgaria. Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov immediately pardoned the six medics, a move that brought criticism [JURIST report] from both Libya and the Libyan Association for the Families of HIV-Infected Children. The medics, who have consistently maintained their innocence and accused Libyan authorities of eliciting confessions through torture [HRW report], have indicated they will testify against 11 Libyan police officers facing torture charges [JURIST report] in Bulgaria. Reuters has more.