‘Cruel and inhuman’: UN condemn Alabama nitrogen gas execution

The United Nations is among a number of human rights groups who have condemned the first execution of a prisoner using nitrogen gas. The execution took place in the US state of Alabama. Prisoner Kenneth Eugene Smith was pronounced dead on Thursday night (US time) after breathing the pure nitrogen gas through a face mask. Mr Smith had been on death row for more than 30 years after being convicted of a murder-for-hire in 1989. He previously survived an attempted execution by lethal injection in 2022. EU officials and human rights groups have also disapproved of the execution method. Alabama is one of only three US states to approve the use of nitrogen gas in executions.