Four UN rapporteurs today expressed their concern over the US intention to execute a convicted death by nitrogen gasconsidering that this method, which will be used for the first time worldwide, may subject him to “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or even torture”.
In this type of executions, death is caused by nitrogen hypoxia, replacing the oxygen the death row inmate breathes with nitrogen.
“This will be the first attempt to carry out an execution under nitrogen hypoxia,” four UN special rapporteurs said in a statement, noting that this method could cause the death row inmate “great suffering” and may be contrary to the prohibition of the use of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
“We are concerned that nitrogen hypoxia may result in a painful and humiliating death”they pointed out, noting that “there is no scientific evidence” to the contrary.
The statement is signed by the special rapporteurs on extrajudicial killings Maurice Tidball-Bings, 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.
As they pointed out, the state of Alabama plans to execute Kenneth Smith on January 25th, and for that reason they asked the federal authorities to intervene so that his execution, like every other death row inmate, is scheduled to be executed that year. manner, pending revision of the execution protocol.
Smith has been sentenced to death for a murder-for-hire he committed in 1988. His execution by lethal injection in November 2022 was called off at the last minute after all attempts to administer the drug intravenously failed. He is one of two people alive in the US after botched executions.
His death sentence had caused reactions.
In 1988 a man hired Smith and another to kill his wife. Despite the man's suicide, the authorities identified the two perpetrators of the murder.
Smith was sentenced to death in the first instance, a sentence that was overturned on appeal. At his second trial in 1996, he was again found guilty of murder, but jurors were divided on the sentence he should be given: 11 out of 12 recommended life imprisonment. Ignoring their suggestion, the judge chose to sentence him to the death penalty, which was legal at the time but is now banned across the US.
Based on this fact Smith's lawyers appealed to the US Supreme Court in an attempt to stay his execution, but the court rejected their request.
Most executions in the US are carried out using large doses of barbiturates, but some states have difficulty obtaining the drugs because the EU prohibits pharmaceutical companies from selling preparations that can be used in executions.
Source: News Beast
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