The execution of a person sentenced to death is scheduled for next Thursday (25) in the US state of Alabama. Kenneth Smith is suffocated by nitrogen gas the first time this method has been used in the United States. In 2022, he was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection, but he survived the method.
Judge R. Austin Huffaker Jr. of Alabama rejected the defense's appeal against 58yearold Kenneth Smith not to proceed with the execution. Smith killed a woman in March 1998. According to the prosecution, the murder was ordered by her husband, a priest. The husband committed suicide.
Smith's execution by lethal injection in November 2022 was canceled after he was strapped to a stretcher for more than an hour while officials tried unsuccessfully to find a vein good enough to absorb the poison. In court, the defense said Smith experienced physical and psychological pain and developed posttraumatic stress disorder.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said it was “concerned” about the impending execution of a death row prisoner in the United States and that the method used may constitute torture.
“We are alarmed by the impending execution in the United States of Kenneth Eugene Smith using a new and untested method, nitrogen hypoxia,” High Commission spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said at a news conference in Geneva.
The execution “could constitute torture or other cruel and degrading treatment under international law,” he said.
According to the spokeswoman, Alabama's nitrogen hypoxia implementation protocol does not require sedation, while the United States Veterinary Association (AVMA) recommends that animals, even large ones, be given a sedative if they are euthanized. with this method.
The UN has called on Alabama authorities to stop Smith's execution scheduled for January 25, expressing concern that Mississippi and Oklahoma have also approved this method of execution.
What is Nitrogen Hypoxia?
Execution by nitrogen hypoxia would result in death because the prisoner would be forced to breathe pure nitrogen, depriving him of the oxygen necessary to maintain body functions.
*with information from AFP*
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She has a degree in journalism from the Centro Universitário de Belo Horizonte (UniBH) and has worked at Record TV and Rede Minas. He is currently a multimedia reporter for Itatiaia. Communicative and connected to social networks, entertainment and cities.