Four UN experts have expressed alarm over the upcoming execution of Kenneth Smith in Alabama, warning that the state’s intention to kill the prisoner with an untested method using nitrogen gas could subject him to cruel and inhuman treatment amounting to torture.
In a joint statement released on Wednesday in Geneva, the four independent UN monitors call on the US government and Alabama to halt the execution scheduled for 25 January. They accuse the state of rushing ahead with an experimental execution technique that could inflict grave suffering on Smith in violation of the international ban on torture.
