PHOENIX – A federal appeals court on Saturday granted an Arizona death row inmate’s request to postpone his pending execution, putting it on hold until prison officials reveal details on the two-drug combination that will be used to put him to death.

The preliminary injunction granted by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversing a lower federal court comes four days before the scheduled execution of Joseph Rudolph Wood.

Without weighing in on the “ultimate merits” of his case, the court wrote: “Wood has presented serious questions going to the merits of his claim, and that the balance of hardships tips sharply in his favor.”

His lawyers argued prison officials violated their client’s First Amendment rights by refusing to provide the detailed information, such as the makers of the drugs and how the state developed its method for lethal injections.

“Today, the Court has made a well-reasoned ruling affirming the core First Amendment principles regarding the public’s right to know, which aid all parts of our democratic government,” Wood’s lawyer Dale Baich said in a statement.

Attorneys for the state argued there was no First Amendment right to the information Wood is seeking. Representatives from the attorney general’s office said they had not yet seen the decision; but based on the severity of Wood’s crime, they intended to appeal.

“There is a continuing and intensifying debate over lethal injection in the country,” Baich said in a statement, “and the court said it’s important that specific and detailed information be provided, so the public can know about how safely and reliably the death penalty is administered.”