Paris welcomed a decision by the Libyan supreme court on Sunday to order a retrial, overturning death sentences that would have been carried out by firing squad, the deputy spokesman for the French foreign ministry said.

"It (France) calls for a definitive, fair and humane decision to be found as soon as possible," Denis Simonneau told reporters.

"We have conveyed on several occasions to the Libyan authorities our wish to bring a rapid and satisfactory resolution to this painful case," he added.

And he said that France wanted again to express "its solidarity and compassion towards the children infected by AIDS and their families".

Paris is examining ways to contribute to a European Union effort aimed at providing humanitarian and medical aid to the families and Libya's hospitals, he said.

The nurses stand accused of transfusing HIV-contaminated blood into 426 children at a Benghazi hospital on Libya's Mediterranean coast. Around 50 of them have since died.

All six defendants pleaded not guilty ahead of their conviction in May 2004, saying they were being made scapegoats for mismanagement at the hospital.