Execution in the US by nitrogen inhalation, a world first, “may amount to torture,” complained UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk. “I deeply regret the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith in Alabama despite serious concerns that this untested method of nitrogen asphyxiation may constitute torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,” Volker Turk said.
The European Union denounces the “particularly brutal” execution by nitrogen inhalation in the US, the European Commission spokesman said in a statement. “The European Union expresses its deep regret for the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith in Alabama” and denounces the “particularly brutal” method of execution which is “encumbered by the fact that the prisoner was already the subject of an execution attempt in November 2022”, the statement reads. of the Commission. The EU recalls that it is opposed to the imposition of the death penalty “under any circumstances”.
“I leave with love, peace and light”
According to a reporter from a local CBS national television station who was present at the execution, Smith's last words were: “Tonight Alabama is taking humanity back a step […]. I leave with love, peace and light […] I thank all those who supported me. I love you all”.
Yesterday morning he was offered his last meal, a steak with potatoes and eggs.
When its execution began, Smith “began writhing and thrashing for two to four minutesfollowed by about five minutes of heavy breathing,” news website AL.com reported, citing eyewitnesses.
“It looked like he was trying to hold his breath as long as he could so he wouldn't inhale the nitrogen,” Alabama's director of prisons, John Hamm, told reporters.
This was the first execution of the year in the US, where in 2023 there were 24, all by lethal injection intravenously. It is the first time in the last 40 years that a completely new method of execution was used in the country.
Source: News Beast
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