UN Rights Chief Condemns US Nitrogen Gas Execution, Reports Reuters

GENEVA – The United Nations human rights chief expressed strong condemnation regarding the execution of a prisoner in Alabama using nitrogen gas, suggesting that this method may constitute torture.

Kenneth Smith, who was convicted for a murder-for-hire in 1988, was executed on Thursday. This marked the first application of nitrogen gas as a method of capital punishment in the U.S. since lethal injections began forty years prior.

“I deeply regret the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith in Alabama, given the serious concerns that this new and untested procedure of suffocation by nitrogen gas may be tantamount to torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment,” stated Volker Turk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Turk also emphasized, “The death penalty is inconsistent with the fundamental right to life. I urge all states to implement a moratorium on its use as a step towards universal abolition.”

Smith had previously evaded an execution attempt. In November 2022, officials in Alabama had to halt his execution by lethal injection after struggling for hours to establish an intravenous line.