Despite international appeals from the UN, Amnesty International and HRW, the Alabama advanced yesterday Thursday to execution of 58-year-old death row inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith at Atmore Prison, causing him to suffocate by inhalation nitrogen – first time worldwide that this method was used.

According to the UN, the execution protocol by nitrogen inhalation induced hypoxia does not provide for the administration of anesthesiaalthough the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) recommends that animals euthanized in this manner be anesthetized

According with journalists from around the world who were eyewitnesses to Smith’s executionwhich lasted 22 minutes (too much time to execute), the 58-year-old “struggled” tied up for several minutes and “breathed heavily” until he died.

THE Lee Hedgepeth one of the five journalists present stated to Daily Mail: “I have been to four previous executions and I have never seen a condemned prisoner beaten in the way Kenneth Smith reacted to nitrogen gas

The shocked journalist said that it was the “more violent execution” that he had ever seen.

The reactions to Smith’s suffocation death continued today.

“I am deeply saddened by the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith in Alabama despite serious concerns about the fact that the untested this method of asphyxiation with nitrogen may constitute torment or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment’complained o High Commissioner for Human Rights of UN Volker Turk.

On her part, European Union denounces the “particularly brutal” execution by nitrogen inhalation in the US.

“The European Union expresses its deep regret for her execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith in Alabama” and denounces the “particularly brutal” method of execution which is “encumbered by the fact that the prisoner has already been the subject of an execution attempt in November 2022”, according to the Commission’s announcement.

The EU recalls that it is opposed to the imposition of the death penalty “under any circumstances”.