Four UN rapporteurs expressed concern on Wednesday over the planned execution by nitrogen inhalation of a death row inmate in the United States, saying this method, which would be a first in the world, could cause “serious suffering”.
In this type of execution, death is caused by hypoxia (lack of oxygen).
Independent United Nations experts are concerned about the “serious suffering that executions by nitrogen inhalation could cause” and say in a statement that there is “no scientific evidence” to the contrary.
The statement is signed by the special rapporteurs on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Morris Tidball-Binz, on torture, Alice Jill Edwards, on the independence of judges and lawyers, Margaret Satterthwaite, and on the right to physical and mental health, Tlaleng Mofokeng .
AFP
According to these experts, the state of Alabama (South) plans to execute Kenneth Smith on January 25.
“It will be the first execution process using nitrogen hypoxia,” specify the United Nations experts, appointed by the international organization’s Human Rights Council, but who did not comment on its behalf.
“We fear that nitrogen hypoxia could lead to a painful and humiliating death,” they note.
According to them, “experimental executions by gas asphyxiation – such as nitrogen hypoxia – would likely violate the prohibition on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.”
They are calling on federal and state authorities in Alabama to halt the execution of Mr. Smith and anyone else scheduled to be executed this way, pending a review of the execution protocol.
Alabama Department of Corrections
Mr Smith’s execution by lethal injection in November 2022 for a command killing committed in 1988 was canceled at the last minute, as it was not possible to administer IVs to inject him with the lethal solution within the time required by law.
His death sentence sparked controversy.
In 1988, an unfaithful and indebted husband hired him and another hitman to kill his wife during a fake burglary. Despite her husband’s suicide, the police managed to track down the two murderers.
Kenneth Smith was initially sentenced to the death penalty, but the trial was overturned on appeal. At his second trial, in 1996, he was again found guilty of murder, but the jurors were divided on the sentence: 11 of 12 recommended life imprisonment.
Ignoring their opinion, a judge imposed the death penalty, which was legal at the time but is now banned throughout the United States.
Because of this, his lawyers tried to get a stay from the US Supreme Court on Wednesday, but the High Court rejected their appeal.
2024-01-03 12:29:32
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