UN rights office 'deeply' regrets execution of inmate by nitrogen hypoxia in US

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) - The UN human rights office on Friday said that it "deeply" regrets the execution of an inmate in the US by nitrogen hypoxia, voicing concern about its possible adoption as an accepted method of execution.

"We deeply regret the execution of candidate (Kenneth) Eugene Smith in Alabama despite serious concerns that this novel and untested method of suffocation by nitrogen gas may amount to torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment," OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told a UN briefing in Geneva.

Smith, who was found guilty of murder for hire, was executed in the state of Alabama using the method, in which a person breathes only nitrogen and dies from a lack of oxygen.

Shamdasani said that the office saw reports that the execution process "may have taken up to 25 minutes" and "he was clearly suffering," as well as Alabama authorities' statement that claimed that the method worked and it was a “satisfactory method of execution."

"It is not. It could amount to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment in violation of the treaties, the human rights treaties that the United States has signed," she warned.

She also voiced concern about the nitrogen hypoxia method becoming an accepted method of execution as other US states including Mississippi and Oklahoma approved the use of it, whereas in Nebraska, a bill to approve the method has been presented.

She urged the states "not to use nitrogen gas to execute people and to really work towards a moratorium."

"This is an anachronism that doesn't belong in the 21st century. There is no proof that the death penalty deters crime," the spokesperson said. "But on the contrary, there is a lot of evidence of miscarriages of justice of discrimination in application of the death penalty, which disproportionately is applied on people who are minorities, people who are from poorer backgrounds. So it is time to bring this to an end."

Amendment 8 to the US Constitution explicitly prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.

The human rights office called on Alabama authorities several times to halt the execution of Smith, however, their calls did not meet an action.

In November 2022, authorities in Alabama tried to execute Smith using lethal injection, but the attempt failed.