The US state of Alabama in first of its kind, carried out an execution using nitrogen gas.
A method referred by UN as “torture”.
Kenneth Eugene Smith, who was sentenced to death in 1996 for a 1988 murder, was pronounced dead at 8:25 pm (0225 GMT Friday), according to local media, citing a statement from the southern state’s Governor Kay Ivey.
Who was Eugene smith?
Smith was 58 year old convicted killer whose 2022 lethal injection was called off at the last minute because authorities couldn’t connect and IV lines.
Smith and an accomplice, John Parker, were convicted of the 1988 murder of Elizabeth Sennett for which they were each paid $1,000.
The state claims that the process of execution by using nitrogen gas will be humane but critics calls it cruel.
“Alabama is using an untested, unproven method of execution,” said Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Centre.
“It’s never been used before to execute anyone in the United States, or anyone in the world as far as we know,” Maher told AFP.
During an interview smith said that he was “absolutely terrified” about his upcoming execution and still traumatized by his previous execution attempt.
“Everybody is telling me that I’m going to suffer,” he said.
Alabama is among three US states that have approved the use of nitrogen hypoxia as a method of execution, the other two being Oklahoma and Mississippi.
Process of execution
Alabama puts an industrial type face mask on smith’s face and replace his breathing air with pure nitrogen gas, causing him to die from lack of oxygen.
What did the state said?
The state of Alabama has defended the method of execution, claiming it is “perhaps the most humane method of execution ever devised.”
Capital punishment has been abolished in 23 US states, while the governors of six states which includes Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Tennessee have put a hold on it.
53 percent of Americans support the death penalty for someone convicted of murder as per Gallup poll.
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