Four murderers face execution on July 27 in Pakistan...

Four murderers face execution on July 27 in Pakistan after a storm of protest scuttled a deal by which they sought to escape hanging by selling young daughters into marriage to elderly relatives of their victims.
A district mayor in the city of Mianwali in Punjab province said the bridegrooms - one aged 77 and the other 55 - married the 15-and 14-year-old daughters of two of the murderers on July 24 morning, but divorced them later the same day on the advice of local elders.
"Now the deal is in limbo," Umair Ejaz told Reuters. "We are trying to find a better solution."
Newspaper reports said the family of two murdered men in the village of Abbakhel had demanded 12 million rupees ($200.000) and 20 young brides to agree to pardons for the murderers - identified as Sardar Khan, Mohammad Akram Khan, Mohammad Ashraf Khan, and Asmatullah Khan.
The village council mediated a compromise by which the victims' family agreed to take eight unmarried young women and eight million rupees ($133,000).
The English-language daily Dawn said the scene at the weddings was more like a funeral.
"The houses of the brides presented a mourning scene as shrieks and cries were heard when the Nikah was performed," the paper said, referring to the marriage solemnisation ceremony.
Ejaz said the marriage deal had been a last resort as the four men on death row had exhausted all appeals, including one to President Pervez Musharraf.
Islamic laws introduced by former military dictator President Zia-ul-Haq provide for convicts - even those on death row - to be pardoned if the victim's family agrees to accept cash compensation, called Qisas. Providing women as compensation is not allowed.
Ejaz said elders told the victims' family it was "unethical" for a 77-year-old man to marry a 15-year-old. But a local newspaper reporter said the divorces came under police pressure.
"Police encircled the girls' houses to ensure they were not sent to their husbands," he said. "The police forced the husbands to divorce."