The deal to free six medical workers seems to set an overly dangerous precedent.

Mario Canseco - The release of a Palestinian medical intern and five Bulgarian nurses, who had been sentenced to death in a Libyan court, was greeted with overwhelming glee. They were accused of deliberately infecting more than 400 children with HIV at the El-Fath Children's Hospital. The six defendants claimed to have been tortured, eventually agreeing to sign confessions written, evidently by third parties, in Arabic.

After eight and a half years of confinement, two trials, one conviction, one death sentence and an eventual commutation to life imprisonment, the deal to secure the release of the medical workers was announced by French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who actually made it a point to mention the case during his victory speech in May.

The early buoyancy with the seemingly positive conclusion of a cause that was fair enough to merit the support of both Amnesty International and United States president George W. Bush, has given way to questions about the role of the state in negotiations with regimes that boast less-than-stellar human rights records.

As is usually the case when backroom deals are reached, no side is completely satisfied. Libyan authorities claim the pardons granted by Bulgarian president Georgi Parvanov violate the terms of the agreement, and the apparent price of freedom—French nuclear technology for a government that had renounced its nuclear aspirations a few years ago—seems to set an overly dangerous precedent.

France has agreed to assist in a de-salination project with its nuclear technology, a far-cry from uranium enrichment, yet a cause for concern in a country with arguably the poorest democratic structures in Africa, ruled by Muammar Gaddafi since 1969, and with a previous history of support—both ideological and financial—for terrorism.

In addition, each of the affected families will receive $1 million U.S. in compensation. Three of the freed medical workers have announced they will seek legal action against their "torturers", and the relatives of the infected children have called on Interpol to detain them again.

Both Bulgaria and the European Union (EU) have been adamant in their assertion that a "ransom" was not paid to finalize the deal. Bulgarian prime minister Sergey Stanishev also hinted at pardoning the $54 million U.S. debt owed by Libya, claiming this would be a humanitarian gesture, and not "an admission of guilt." Be that as it may, the pardons granted by Parvanov did not clear the name of the medical workers, and while both sides will continue to cling to their original stories, the truth will remain unattainable.

The nuclear deal did not sit well with politicians or activists. German deputy foreign minister Gernot Erler denounced the arrangement as "politically problematic." Reed Brody of Human Rights Watch (HRW) called for "conditional engagement" with Libya requiring "concrete improvements" and "human rights benchmarks."

Sarkozy's chief of staff Claude Guéant dismissed concerns, claiming that "a country that respects international rules can obtain civilian nuclear energy." The statement would be more convincing if Guéant were referring to a country that actually allowed political parties or held elections.

In a bizarre way, the release of the nurses is but the latest chapter in a well-organized attempt to cleanse Libya's conscience, which included the $2.7 billion U.S. pay-out to the families affected by the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. The kinder, gentler Libya was featured in one of Tony Blair's last trips as British prime minister, and rescinded by the Bush administration from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. Still, the allegations of torture and the unequivocal limitations of the country's legal system suggest that Libya is not adequately prepared to join other nations as an equal on the global stage.

France, where first lady Cécilia Sarkozy has emerged as an attractive figure in the international arena after her participation in the deal with Libya, now sets its sights on a new cause. French human rights minister Rama Yade said the country will now seek to release jailed Burmese activist Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest since 1990, after the election that would have propelled her to become prime minister was annulled by a military junta. While it would be uncivilized to take offence at the French government's newfound inclination to advocacy, the world should still shun any new attempt to solve human rights issues with deception disguised as altruism.

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