The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said Tuesday that it was “alarmed” by the imminent execution of a man sentenced to death in the United States and that the method used could constitute torture. It’s a run-through system inhalation of nitrogen which causes death from hypoxia (lack of oxygen).
“We are alarmed by the impending execution in the United States of Kenneth Eugene Smith with a new and unproven method, nitrogen hypoxia,” Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the High Commissioner, said at a news conference in Geneva.
The UN has asked Alabama state authorities to stay Smith’s execution, scheduled for January 25.Execution “may constitute torture or other cruel or degrading treatment under international law,” he added.
Neither Alabama nor any other state has used this method Euthanasia of dogs and cats is also not recommended.
No sedation
According to Ravina Shamdasani, Alabama’s nitrogen hypoxia execution protocol does not include sedation while the American Veterinary Association (AVMA) recommends administering a sedative to animalseven large ones, when they are sacrificed with this method.
The UN has asked Alabama state authorities to suspend Smith’s execution, scheduled for January 25, and fears that Mississippi and Oklahoma they also approved this method of execution.
Smith’s execution by lethal injection in November 2022 a contract killing in 1988 it was canceled at the last minute because the IVs used to inject the lethal solution It was not possible to apply them within the deadline established by law.
Smith, 58, was one of two men convicted in 1988 of the murder of Elizabeth Sennet, the wife of preacher Charles Sennett, in Colbert county, Alabama.
According to the indictment, Smith and his accomplice John Forrest Parker They each received $1,000. have Sennett killed on behalf of her husband, who was deeply in debt and wanted to collect on the insurance. The woman she was stabbed and beaten with a fireplace utensil.
The murder shocked the small north Alabama community. The pastor committed suicide a week later. Parker was executed in 2010.
Source: Clarin
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