OHCHR head voices regret at first execution by nitrogen suffocation in Alabama

Anjali Sharma

GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 27th Jan. UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Friday has expressed deep regret over the execution of a prisoner in the State of Alabama in the US on Thursday night through the first ever use of nitrogen asphyxiation as a method of implementing the death penalty.

Mr. Volker Türk said “I deeply regret the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith in Alabama despite serious concerns that this novel and untested method of suffocation may amount to torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment”.

OHCHR noted that Kenneth Eugene Smith 58 has been convicted of murder in 1988, and had been sentenced to death in the state of Alabama. An attempt to carry out the execution in 2022, failed.

Human Rights Council had called for Alabama to halt Mr. Smith’s execution and to refrain from taking steps towards any other executions using nitrogen asphyxiation.

On Thursday evening, nitrogen hypoxia gas was administered to Mr. Smith, OHCHR stated in après statement issued.

It took 22 minutes before he was formally declared dead, the media reports stated.

According to media and other witnesses in the execution chamber, the prisoner shook violently, writhing and convulsing on the gurney, OHCHR cited in a press release.

The office of the human rights said that prior to the execution, authorities in Alabama reportedly described the use of pure nitrogen gas as “perhaps the most humane method of execution ever devised”.

OHCHR Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani on Friday morning in a post on X, said “The death penalty is inconsistent with the fundamental right to life” .

“We urge all States to put in place a moratorium on its use as a step towards universal abolition,” she added.