Overseas Network, January 11 According to the Associated Press 11**, a federal judge in Alabama, the United States, ruled on the 10th to allow the use of the "nitrogen asphyxiation" method to carry out the death penalty on a prisoner at the end of January, and the lawyer criticized the new method of execution as "cruel and experimental in nature".
The application of the convict Kenneth Eugene Smith to prohibit the "nitrogen asphyxiation" law on himself was rejected by U.S. District Judge R. Austin Hefack on the 10th, and Smith is expected to be executed by Alabama ** on January 25. Smith's lawyer said the state is trying to make Smith a test subject for the "nitrogen suffocation" law, and Smith is expected to appeal the decision. The question of whether the state** can continue to enforce the "nitrogen suffocation" law against Smith may go to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Nitrogen is colorless and odorless, and is the main component of air, accounting for about 78%. When the human body inhales high concentrations of nitrogen, it can quickly coma and die due to respiratory and heartbeat arrest. Several studies have claimed that the lack of oxygen caused by nitrogen can kill people "within minutes". It is reported that in the process of carrying out the death penalty using the "nitrogen suffocation" method, the prisoner only inhaled pure nitrogen, which caused his brain and body to lack oxygen, and finally suffocated to death.
Last week, UN experts called on the United States to stop pushing for a plan to use "nitrogen asphyxiation" to carry out the death penalty, saying it would be the world's first death penalty case in which an inert gas was used to suffocate a criminal, potentially violating international treaties prohibiting torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments. (Overseas Network Hou Xingchuan).
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*: Overseas Network.