Shafaq news/  With the US Justice Department scheduled on Monday to carry out the capital punishment for the first time in 17 years, a federal judge in Indiana temporarily suspended the plan on Friday after family members of the victims sought a delay, saying they could not safely travel to witness the execution because of the coronavirus.

Daniel Lewis Lee, 47, is set to be executed, today, on Monday for his part in the 1996 murder of a family of three, bringing an end to an informal federal moratorium on carrying out the death penalty. But this week, family members of his victims filed a lawsuit, asking the Justice Department to hold off until the risk of the pandemic had subsided.

Jane E. Magnus-Stinson, the chief judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, issued a preliminary injunction on Friday, arguing that the needs of the victims’ family outweighed the need for a speedy execution.

The Justice Department immediately filed an emergency appeal to allow the execution to be conducted as planned.