(Updates with apparent delay) By Anna Mudeva SOFIA, July 16 (Reuters) - A deal has been reached to free six foreign medics sentenced to death in Libya on charges of infecting children with HIV, sources close to the talks said, but a ruling on their fate was postponed until Tuesday. Under the deal, the families of at least 426 infected children will receive over $400 million in compensation, a source familiar with the talks told Reuters. "We are talking about $1 million per each family," the source, who did not want to be identified because of the sensitivity of the discussions, said on Monday. The medical workers -- five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor -- were sentenced to death in December after being convicted of intentionally starting an HIV epidemic at a children's hospital in the city of Benghazi. In jail since 1999, the six say they are innocent and that they were tortured to confess. Foreign HIV experts say the infections started before the workers arrived at the hospital and are more likely a result of poor hygiene. Behind the scenes talks between the EU, which Bulgaria joined in January, and families of the children have been taking place for weeks and both sides have suggested a deal was close. Bulgaria and its allies in the EU and the United States say Libya is using the medics as scapegoats to deflect criticism from its dilapidated health care sector. They have also suggested that not freeing the nurses would carry a diplomatic cost for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who after scrapping a prohibited weapons programme in 2003 is trying to emerge from more than three decades of diplomatic isolation. DEAL PENDING Last week, Libya's Supreme Court upheld the death sentences, placing the medics' fate in the hands of the government's High Judicial Council, a government body that has the power to commute sentences or issue pardons. The council -- which is expected to free the nurses if a deal is reached -- ended a Monday meeting with no ruling, but state news agency Jana reported it would sit again on Tuesday. "The High Judicial Council has put off its decision on the items left from its schedule until tomorrow morning," Jana said, quoting council sources. It did not say the HIV case was a scheduled item but lawyers and officials have said the council was due to rule on it. Libyan officials said the body would only agree to release the nurses if a settlement is reached in talks with the families on "blood money" -- payments for which the families could grant mercy -- and funding for the children's medical care. Another source familiar with the negotiations said the final details of the deal had yet to be agreed. "They have not completed the work on the details over implementing the compensation deal. It will take more time, perhaps 24 hours or more to complete the work," the source said. A delay in sealing the accord could postpone the decision by the council on the fate of the medics, experts say. It was also not clear who would be paying the more than $400 million involved in the deal. Relatives of the children have said the infections were part of a Western attempt to undermine Muslims and Libya.
