Egypt asks Libya for stay of executions

CAIRO, May 26 (Reuters) Libya has agreed to postpone the execution of an Egyptian man who was due to die tomorrow, after Egypt asked Tripoli to allow more time in that and nine other cases, the Egyptian state news agency MENA said yesterday.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit wrote yesterday to his Libyan counterpart, Mohammed Abdel-Rahman Shalgam, asking Libya to postpone 10 executions to give more time for contact with the victims' families.

Under Libyan law a death sentence can be commuted if the victims' relatives pardon the killer or accept compensation.

The Egyptian agency quoted Assistant Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ouf as saying Libya had responded in the case of Emad Abdel Wahed Mohamed Ali, who was going to be executed tomorrow. It did not mention a new execution date.

Ali was convicted of killing a Libyan man in 1999, and the victim's relatives have rejected compensation, MENA said.

The 10 death sentences date from between 1994 and 2003, and Libya has told Egypt that after some long delays it intends to carry out the executions within three months.

The families of most of the victims have repeatedly refused to forgive the killers or accept compensation, in some cases because the bodies were mutilated, MENA said.

REUTERS ABM PM1956