Court seeks to stay US executions

Jose Medellin is scheduled for execution in less than three weeks

The US has been advised not to execute five Mexican nationals on death row by the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

The ICJ - the UN's highest court - had previously ruled that the men had been denied the right to help from their consulate after their arrests.

Mexico says the US has not reviewed the cases - as advised by the ICJ.

The court told the US it should not execute the men before it made its final judgement.

The five are among 51 Mexicans on death row in the United States who were not told after arrest that they were entitled to assistance from Mexican consulates.

Bush overruled

All five are currently on death row in Texas.

Set up in 1946, the ICJ is the highest United Nations court

One of them, Jose Medellin, is scheduled for execution in less than three weeks for his part in the gang rape and murder of two teenage girls.

After the executions were cleared to proceed in the US, Mexico went back to the world court last month to stop the sentences from being carried out.

The international court called for a review of all their cases, and President George W Bush directed state courts to do so, but the US Supreme Court overruled him, saying he had no authority to intervene.

The ICJ is the highest United Nations court. Set up in 1946, it offers advisory opinions to international disputes brought to it by member states.