The US Supreme Court has turned down an appeal to halt the imminent execution of an American prisoner by a new and untested method – suffocation by nitrogen gas.
Kenneth Eugene Smith, who was convicted of murder in 1988, is scheduled to be executed during a 30-hour window starting Thursday in Alabama.
If carried out, it would mark the first execution by nitrogen asphyxiation in the United States.
Besides the southern state, only Oklahoma and Mississippi have approved this method of execution.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court declined the requests by Smith and his attorneys without providing any explanation.
Separately, Smith’s motion for a stay of execution in the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit also ended unsuccessfully on Wednesday night.
Critics of killing by nitrogen asphyxiation say the Alabama state protocol makes no provision for sedation prior to execution, and the gas will be administered for up to 15 minutes.
In an appeal to the U.S. Government last week, UN human rights agency said it could amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment under international human rights law.
OHCHR Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani pointed out that the American Veterinary Medical Association recommends giving even large animals a sedative when being euthanized in this manner.
Alabama already sought to execute Smith unsuccessfully by lethal injection in 2022 because jail officials could not set an intravenous line on his body before the execution warrant expired.
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