SEVEN HILLS, Ohio: A former Nazi death camp guard won a last-minute stay of deportation shortly after US immigration agents carried the 89 year-old from his home in a wheelchair to face trial in Germany.

The ruling came in response to a petition filed earlier on Tuesday by John Demjanjuk, who is accused of having voluntarily served at the Sobibor and Majdanek concentration camps in Nazi-occupied Poland in 1943.

"The petitioner's motion for a stay of removal is granted, pending further consideration of the matters presented by the petition and motion," said an order from the US federal appeals court.