United Nations experts on Wednesday asked US officials not to go ahead with the expected execution of a prisoner with nitrogen hypoxia, saying the method could subject him to “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or even such ”. torture”.
This is the intention. Kenneth Smith was convicted of murder by warrant committed in the state of Alabama in 1988 on January 25 through this method aimed at depriving himself of oxygen using a face mask connected to a nitrogen cylinder.
Ferreiro, 58, is one of only two people in the United States to survive an attempted execution. after Alabama botched its previously planned implementation of a lethal injection in November 2022, when multiple attempts to insert an IV failed.
“This will be the first attempted execution due to nitrogen hypoxia.” Four UN special rapporteurs said in a statement that the method could cause “severe suffering” and would likely violate the ban on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.
“We fear that nitrogen hypoxia will cause a painful and humiliating death,” she added.
Smith’s lawyers argued that the technique could violate the constitutional ban on “cruel and unusual punishment” and argued that a second attempt to execute him in any manner would be unconstitutional.
However, most American executions are carried out with lethal doses of barbiturate. Some states had trouble obtaining the drugs because of a European Union law that bans pharmaceutical companies from selling drugs to prisons that could be used in executions.
Source: La Neta Neta
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
