Libya has proposed a plan to release the Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death in an Aids epidemic case in exchange for compensation, the son of Libyan President Moamer Kadhafi told a Bulgarian newspaper on Monday.

"We have proposed a road map with solutions (satisfying) all parties: the parents, the Libyan government, the Bulgarian side, the EU," Kadhafi's son Seif al-Islam told the daily 24 Hours, adding that he had also discussed the plan with the foreign ministers of Germany and France.

The plan anticipates "substantial compensation for the families of those affected," he added.

Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were sentenced to death on December 19 after an appeals court upheld their conviction for having "knowingly" infected 426 children at a hospital in Benghazi with blood tainted by the HIV virus that can cause Aids.

At least 53 of the children have died of the infection, which the defendants who have spent eight years behind bars blame on poor hygiene at the hospital long before their arrival in Libya.

Al-Islam promised that Libya would not carry out the death sentences against the six medics.

"There will be no executions... Libya is not Iraq," he said, referring to the recent execution of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and two of his top aides.

Kadhafi's son added that he was authorised to work on this plan by his father as well as by the families of the infected children.

Al-Islam's Kadhafi Goodwill Foundation has long been involved in negotiations concerning the medics' case.

He pointed out "the importance of establishing a dialogue between the families and European representatives" through talks in Libya with "European parliamentarians, foreign affairs ministers, diplomats, experts."

Al-Islam also demanded the release of Libyan officer Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi who is serving a life sentence in Britain for the 1998 bombing of a Pan Am flight over the Scottish village of Lockerbie that killed 270 people.

"We believe that al-Megrahi is innocent in the same way you believe that your nurses are innocent," he said.

"Just like you have the right to demand the return of your nurses, we have the right to insist for the return of al-Megrahi to Libya. Our desires are similar," al-Islam said, adding however, "It is not a matter of an exchange."