UN warns Alabama execution using nitrogen gas could 'amount to torture' and ... trends now
The United Nations has warned Alabama of potentially violating human rights treaties by going through with the execution of a hitman using nitrogen gas.
Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, is set to die by nitrogen hypoxia - or suffocation by nitrogen gas - on January 25, nearly 35 years after he and another carried out the hired hit on a 45-year-old preacher's wife, Elizabeth Sennett.
He was supposed to be put to death in November 2022, but the execution was botched when prison staff couldn't get the lethal injection needle into a vein.
Smith, 58, sued Alabama to instead be killed with nitrogen gas, which would suffocate him to death, and a court approved the method in May.
Earlier this month, UN experts expressed alarm over the choice, stating that it may 'subject him to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or even torture'.
They explained that the possibility of grave suffering existed if the execution went through since there was no scientific evidence to state otherwise.
The intergovernmental organization is now demanding the state to halt Smith's execution and not conduct any other future executions using nitrogen gas.
This undated photo provided by the Alabama Department of Corrections shows Kenneth Eugene Smith, who was convicted in a 1988 murder-for-hire slaying of a preacher's wife
Earlier this month, UN experts expressed alarm over the choice, stating that it may 'subject him to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or even torture'
Elizabeth Sennett, 45, was found dead on March 18, 1988, in her home in Alabama's Colbert County. She had been stabbed eight times in the chest and once on each side of neck
Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement today: 'We are alarmed by the imminent execution in the United States of America of Kenneth Eugene Smith, through the use of a novel and untested method – suffocation by nitrogen gas, which could amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment under international human rights law.
'The UN Human Rights Office calls on Alabama state authorities to halt Smith’s execution, scheduled for 25-26 January, and to refrain from taking steps towards any other executions in this manner.
'We have serious concerns that Smith’s execution in these circumstances could breach the prohibition on torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, as well as his right to effective remedies.'
The Office said if the state went through with the execution using the current method, they would violate the UN's Convention against Torture along with the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment.
The 1984 resolution titled Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment states that 'no one shall be subjected to
