T lymphocytes of the infected children to exclude the possibility of their intentional infection with HIV. Their hypothesis is that the children were infected as part of an AIDS vaccine trial. Nobel Laureates 114 Nobel Laureates in the sciences co-signed an open letter to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi calling for a fair trial. Torture All of the defendants said they had been tortured. This was later confirmed by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the leader of Libya. He said that the confessions were extracted through torture with electric shocks and threats targeted at the medics' families, and confirmed that some of the children had been infected with HIV before the medics arrived in Libya. He said that the guilty verdict of the Libyan courts had been based on "conflicting reports", and said that "There is negligence, there is a disaster that took place, there is a tragedy, but it was not deliberate." Ashraf Ahmed al-Hadzhudzh has reportedly lost an eye, and one of his hands has been paralyzed. Snezhana Dimitrova declared that her hands were tied behind her back and she was hung from a door dislocating her shoulders, and that she was told to "confess or you will die here." Nasya Nenova testified that "We were alone there with those men who did everything they wanted to do." In May 2005 Human Rights Watch interviewed them in Jadida prison. In her book, Valya Cherveniashka describes the torture sessions in detail. In the chapter "The Red Carpet" she describes first day of interrogation: In another chapter, "The Hell in Me", there are tens of examples of torture, including dogs, hanging, beating, humiliating and many more. Ashraf al-Hadzhudzh, the Palestinian intern, told Human Rights Watch "We had barbaric, sadistic torture for a crime we didn’t do...They used electric shocks, drugs, beatings, police dogs, sleep prevention...The confession was like multiple choice, and when I gave a wrong answer they shocked me." Valentina Siropulo told Human Rights Watch "I confessed during torture with electricity. They put small wires on my toes and on my thumbs. Sometimes they put one on my thumb and another on either my tongue, neck or ear." Kristiana Valcheva said interrogators used a small machine with cables and a handle that produced electricity, saying that "During the shocks and torture they asked me where the AIDS came from and what is your role..." She said that Libyan interrogators subjected