But she knew it would be only a short-lived reprieval from exhaustion.

However, after the controversial pit closure programme of the early 1990s, Littleton closed in 1994, overturning a reprieval a year earlier.

"It's an 11th-and-a-half hour reprieval, but the executioner is still honing his ax," said the subcommittee chairman, James H. Scheuer, Democrat of Queens.

"Gao also voluntarily reported others' offenses and provided important clues for cracking other cases, a contribution to win him a lenient penalty and a reprieval of five years," the agency said.