U.N. experts express alarm over Alabama’s planned execution via nitrogen hypoxia

Can we consider the pain that this person or others, imposed on and humiliated their victims?

Alabama is planning to execute Kenneth Eugene Smith on Jan. 25 using nitrogen hypoxia, an untested method never used before to implement the death penalty. The experts “expressed alarm” that the gas being used to execute Smith would lead to a painful death caused by asphyxiation. They also warned that the experimental use of nitrogen hypoxia asphyxiation in this case could violate statutes against cruel and inhuman treatment.

“We are concerned that nitrogen hypoxia would result in a painful and humiliating death,” the experts said.

The experts include the following individuals:

Morris Tidball-Binz, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions
Alice Jill Edwards, Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
Ms. Tlaeng Mofokeng, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
Ms. Margaret Satterthwaite, Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers

SOURCE : https://www.alreporter.com/2024/01/04/u-n-experts-express-alarm-over-alabamas-planned-execution-via-nitrogen-hypoxia/


Use of Nitrogen Hypoxia for Alabama Executions Could Endanger Spiritual Advisors and Prison Staff in the Execution Chamber

In August 2023, Alabama released the first-ever execution protocol for nitrogen hypoxia, an untested execution method in which prisoners will be put to death by suffocation as they are forced to breathe pure nitrogen gas. Alabama’s heavily redacted protocol provides that prisoners will be fitted with a mask and breathing tube to control the gas, which will slowly deprive them of oxygen. However, use of this untested method may also pose dangers to spiritual advisors and prison staff in the execution chamber.

Nitrogen gas has never been tested in an execution setting but has caused serious injury and death in industrial accidents. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), fourteen people died of nitrogen asphyxiation in the workplace between 2012 and 2020. In 2021, a nitrogen leak at a poultry plant in Georgia killed six people and hospitalized eleven. Liquid nitrogen used as a refrigerant leaked into the air, where it vaporized into a fog that surrounded hundreds of employees. Alabama’s protocol appears to require preventative measures by staff such as reviewing “training materials on dangers and hazards associated with nitrogen gas in the workplace,” visual inspection of the mask and gas canisters, and listening for the sound of a gas leak. However, the protocol provides no guarantee of safety for persons in the death chamber, nor does it address how the State will prevent the gas escaping the chamber and affecting witnesses in the event of an accident. According to anesthesiologist Joel Zivot, nitrogen gas “is dangerous to anyone in the vicinity.”

SOURCE : https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/use-of-nitrogen-hypoxia-for-alabama-executions-could-endanger-spiritual-advisors-and-prison-staff-in-the-execution-chamber



SOURCE : https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/use-of-nitrogen-hypoxia-for-alabama-executions-could-endanger-spiritual-advisors-and-prison-staff-in-the-execution-chamber

@MSgt Thomas Clifford If the UN were to move, that would result in another charge for the U S to cover!