"Barbaric and Primitive"... Controversy Grows After First 'Nitrogen Gas Execution' Carried Out in the US

The first execution by nitrogen gas suffocation was carried out in Alabama, USA.

On the 25th (local time), AP News and others reported that Alabama conducted the world's first nitrogen gas execution on death row inmate Keneth Eugene Smith (58). This method involves placing a mask on the face and injecting nitrogen to induce hypoxia. He was sentenced to death for the murder of a 45-year-old woman in 1998, which he committed on contract.

Kenneth Eugene Smith, a death row inmate executed by nitrogen gas.
[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

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Smith was originally scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in 2022, but the execution was postponed just before it was carried out because authorities failed to establish a vein for the injection. This is the first time a new method of execution has been carried out since lethal injection was introduced in the United States in 1982.

Alabama officials expected that consciousness would be lost within seconds after nitrogen gas was injected and death would occur within minutes. However, Smith was pronounced dead 22 minutes after the execution began. He was conscious for several minutes and reportedly experienced convulsions for at least two minutes. Steve Marshall, Alabama Attorney General, claimed, "Nitrogen gas has now been proven to be an effective and humane method of execution."

However, religious groups supporting Smith strongly opposed the nitrogen gas execution. Reverend Jeff Hood, who counseled Smith, said, "There was no loss of consciousness within 30 seconds," and "What we saw was a person struggling to live for several minutes." In response, Alabama correctional authorities argued that Smith's convulsions were involuntary movements.

Earlier, Sant'Egidio, a Catholic charity affiliated with the Vatican, criticized Alabama, calling it "barbaric and uncivilized," and said the state would bear an indelible shame. Experts affiliated with the United Nations Human Rights Council also pointed out that nitrogen gas executions could violate human rights laws prohibiting torture.

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