Washington sniper faces execution

Washington sniper John Allen Muhammad, who killed 10 people in a 2002 shooting spree in the US capital, is due to be put to death today after he was denied a stay of execution.

Muhammad is scheduled to die by injection at a Virginia prison for the slaying of Dean Harold Meyers at a gas station during a three-week spree in 2002 across Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC.

Muhammad and his teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, were also suspected of fatal shootings in other states, including Louisiana, Alabama and Arizona.

Malvo is serving a life sentence.

Muhammad still has a clemency petition before Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine.

Muhammad's attorney, Jonathan Sheldon argued that his client was "a severely mentally ill man who also suffered from Gulf War Syndrome".