(adds World Foundation for AIDS, edits)

Dec 19 (Reuters) - A Libyan court sentenced five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to death on Tuesday for deliberately infecting hundreds of children with the HIV virus.

Here is reaction to the news.

LUC MONTAGNIER, DIRECTOR, WORLD FOUNDATION FOR AIDS

"My reaction is both very sad and critical, sad because this is keeping in chains people who have not been proven to be guilty of this monstrous accusation.

"Secondly, I am very astonished that the court didn't take into account any of the scientific arguments against the idea that the virus came at the same time as the nurses to the hospital."

"This is non-scientific-based judgment. It's political and emotional to please, apparently, the (children's) parents, but this will not actually change the situation."

INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF NURSES, WORLD MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, JOINT STATEMENT

"Today's decision turns a blind eye to the science and evidence points clearly to the fact that these children were infected well before the medical workers arrived at the hospital. How many children will go on dying in Libyan hospitals while the government ignores the root of the problem?"

DR VITTORIO COLIZZI, UNIVERSITY OF ROME AND CO-AUTHOR OF A STUDY PUBLISHED IN THE JOURNAL NATURE ABOUT THE CASE

"The only medical report taken into consideration by the court has been the Libyan report which was produced by five Libyan doctors. But in this report here is no scientific data, only some stories, not data."

BULGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY STATEMENT

"We cannot accept a court decision that overlooks the crystal-clear facts, also confirmed by recent surveys by leading world experts, which reject any link between the work of the Bulgarian nurses and the HIV outbreak in the children hospital in Benghazi."

"The prolonging of this court case for a eighth year now is a strong enough argument for the Libyan institutions and the leadership of the country to get involved."

GEORGI PIRINSKI, BULGARIA'S SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT

"We categorically condemn the death sentences.

"Convicting innocent people to death covers the real perpetrators of the AIDS epidemic and deepens the tragedy."

TSVETANKA SIROPOULO, SISTER-IN-LAW OF NURSE VALENTINA SIROPOULO

"What just happened was to be expected. I am sure they will be released, but it will take time. It is so sad that so many years have passed and they are still in jail."

ZORKA ANACHKOVA, MOTHER OF NURSE CHRISTIANA VALCHEVA

"I expected this. I am so sick I had to take pills today to go through this new ordeal. We are all heart-broken. Can someone tell me what evil Christiana has ever done?"

POLINA DIMITROVA, DAUGHTER OF NURSE SNEZHANA DIMITROVA

"This is such a disgrace. I simply cannot believe that such injustice can be done. It was not enough they sentenced innocent people, but they now confirm it. I can only imagine how they (the condemned) feel -- this must have crushed them."

FRANCO FRATTINI, EU JUSTICE AND SECURITY COMMISSIONER

"I am shocked by this kind of decision ... I strongly hope that somehow the Libyan authorities will rethink this decision.

"It's a negative message for the European Union ... I cannot imagine that the death sentences will be carried out."

BENITA FERRERO-WALDNER, EU EXTERNAL RELATIONS COMMISSIONER

"We simply can not accept this verdict and trust that the matter will now be referred to a higher authority.

"I firmly hope that clemency will be granted to the medical staff, in the same spirit of mutual respect and humanitarian compassion which characterised the intense discussions held between the European Union and other partners with the families of the Benghazi children."

GEORGE JOFFE, MAGHREB EXPERT, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY

"I'm not surprised. I think now the real negotiations will begin, to find a way either arranging compensation for the families of the infected children, or a pardon for the nurses."

"There are two reasons for this. Number one, it gives Gaddafi a much better lever to force negotiations for compensation, and number two, it's a way of appeasing the families in Benghazi."

"There will be a price to pay. It depends on what the international community is prepared to pay. But that's still not clear. It will be almost certainly in the form of humanitarian compensation."

AMNESTY SPOKESMAN PHILIP LUTHER

"We firmly condemn the death sentences and ask the Libyan authorities to withdraw them. We've had serious concerns about both this retrial and the previous, original trial of the six health professionals and we are therefore also concerned that they may be prisoners of conscience, imprisoned merely because of their nationality, used as scapegoats in this tragic case."

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