U.S. appeals court upholds block on first federal executions in 17 yrs

July 14 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court rejected late on Monday a request by the justice department to overturn a lower court's block on the first federal executions in 17 years while legal challenges to the lethal-injection protocol continue.

"We cannot say the government has made a strong showing that it is likely to succeed in demonstrating that the district court abused its discretion in granting the preliminary injunction," said a panel of the U.S. Appeals Court for the D.C. circuit. (Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York and Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)