The National Human Rights Commission has rejected a petition to rescue a North Korean said to be facing public execution.

The panel said Friday it did so because the case was not under its jurisdiction.

A number of civic groups championing human rights in North Korea filed the petition in April, pleading for the rescue of a North Korean defector's elder brother who they say will soon be publicly executed for “treason.”

The civic groups said that the accused had been sentenced to death for meeting his younger brother in China and discussing the North's dire situation. He was arrested in Pyongyang in January.

The organizations also claimed they could confirm unofficially that he'd been transferred to a concentration camp.

The panel added that neither it nor any government agency could confirm the truth of the story.