Human rights activists have condemned the experimental execution method, noting that even veterinarians refrain from euthanizing animals via nitrogen.
An Alabama prisoner is scheduled to be executed by nitrogen gas on Tuesday — an experimental form of capital punishment that has prompted a global outcry from human rights organizations.
Kenneth Eugene Smith survived a lethal injection attempt in September 2022, when officials from Alabama’s Department of Corrections tried and failed for four hours to find a vein to insert an IV line. A federal judge then ruled that an execution by nitrogen hypoxia can go forward.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has criticized the planned execution, saying it violates international human rights treaties, including the prohibition on „torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.“
Critics have also pointed to the American Veterinary Medical Association’s 2020 euthanasia guidelines, which say nitrogen hypoxia creates an „anoxic environment that is distressing for some species.“ The AVMA now says the gas can be used under certain conditions for chickens, turkeys, and pigs, but is deemed „unacceptable“ for other mammals.
