Execution dates set for US federal inmates

US Attorney General William Barr has ordered the Federal Bureau of Prisons to schedule the first executions of federal death-row inmates since 2003, the Justice Department says.

Barr directed that execution dates for four federal inmates who were convicted of murdering children be set for July and August, the department said in a statement.

The Trump administration's plan to resume federal executions has been held up by court fights over the drugs used in lethal injections.

The administration won a victory in April when the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit tossed a district judge's injunction that blocked four death penalty sentences from being carried out.

"The four murderers whose executions are scheduled today have received full and fair proceedings under our Constitution and laws," Barr said in a statement on Monday.

"We owe it to the victims of these horrific crimes, and to the families left behind, to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system," he said.