a hospital in history, and it was the first time HIV/AIDS became a public issue in Libya. Two of the world's foremost HIV experts, Luc Montagnier and Vittorio Colizzi, supported the medics' case, and reaction to their convictions was swift, with a number of appeals from scientific and human rights organizations, and various official condemnations of the verdict along with diplomatic initiatives. Three of the Bulgarian medics published autobiographical books regarding the trial: Eight and a Half Years Hostage of Gaddafi by Kristiyana Vulcheva, In Gaddafi's Cage by Snezhana Dimitrova and Notes from Hell by Valya Cherveniashka and Nikolay Yordanov. El-Fatih epidemic in Libya and accusations The El-Fatih epidemic is the largest documented incident of nosocomial (hospital-induced) infection of HIV in history. 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. The crisis first came to light in November 1998 when Libyan La magazine (issue 78) published an exposé about AIDS at the hospital. 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. 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. 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. The group consisted of Ashraf al-Hadzhudzh, a Palestinian intern, and Bulgarian nurses Kristiyana Valtcheva, Nasya Nenova, Valentina