“Painful and humiliating death”: New execution method contested in the US
The US state of Alabama is now using nitrogen inhalation to kill death row inmates. The prisoner must inhale pure nitrogen, without sedation, through a gas mask.
A method of execution compared to “torture” by the UN, which is already calling for the postponement of scheduled executions.
In Alabama, this method of execution was used for the first time on Kenneth Smith, on January 25 this year. Alan Miller is the second prisoner to have been executed in this way, last Thursday, September 26. He was sentenced to death for the murder of 3 colleagues.
According to a group of UN experts, this method has not yet been sufficiently tested, they fear in particular that nitrogen inhalation could lead to a “painful and humiliating death”.
(MH with AsD - Source: Euronews - Illustration: Unsplash)