Kenneth Eugene Smith He was 58 years old and sentenced to death for a murder-for-hire in 1988. He began a legal battle to avoid his execution using this never-before-tested method, claiming he was being treated like a guinea pig.
However, the High Court refused to allow Smith’s challenge, which is due to be executed after 6pm local time on Thursday (0000 GMT on Friday).
As the date approaches, international voices are increasingly calling on US authorities to intervene before it is too late.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ravina Shamdasani, said she was “deeply concerned” about the new method and called on the state of Alabama to “stop the execution” and “refrain from carrying out other executions of this type“.
Amnesty International in turn warned that “this new, untested method could be extremely painful” for the prisoner.and thereby violates the international human rights treaties that the United States has ratified.”
The state of Alabama, which has been working for years on a protocol to kill with this new nitrogen asphyxiation technique, has defended in court that it is ‘the most painless and humane method of execution known to man’.
The prisoners are given a mask that replaces oxygen with nitrogen gas, which in theory will cause death within minutes.
But that argument doesn’t convince Smith’s defense, which after a federal judge gave the execution the green light last week, appealed to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. claiming his client is a guinea pig.
Unlike the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal has not yet ruled.
In executions, it is common for magistrates to decide one way or another only at the last minute or even after the scheduled time of execution.
Alabama is the first state to develop an alternative to lethal injections – the majority method in recent decades – given the difficulties it has faced in obtaining the drugs in recent years due to the denial of pharmaceutical companies used for this purpose.
In addition, complications that have arisen in several executions – some in Alabama – have led to the method being questioned for years as inhumane and the subject of legal disputes.
Smith is on death row for killing a woman in 1988. Elizabeth Sennett, on behalf of her husband, Charles Sennett, who intended to collect damages. Smith and an accomplice, John Forrest Parker, each received $1,000.
Source: El heraldo
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.
