Never before had the nitrogen asphyxiation to execute a prisoner in the United States, but now, the state of Alabama will use it with Kenneth Smith, who has been on death row for 36 years.

Smith, who survived the lethal injection, will die within hours from a technique that even veterinarians reject it for its extreme cruelty. In Spain, for example, it is prohibited because the death that would be given to animals is neither very ethical nor very pleasant, because the animal would be able to perceive that asphyxiation. Here this sacrifice process has to happen with prior stunning.

The prisoner is terrified: “Everyone tells me that I am going to suffer. I am absolutely terrified,” he confessed. No one knows what can happen: the prisoner may be stunned and die of asphyxiation, or he may convulse and vomit uncontrollably.

They will put a mask on you and lie you down on a stretcher. There will be more people in the room and they are also in dangerincluding your pastor

Human rights organizations and even the United Nations have expressed their rejection of this experimental execution. “We have serious concerns that the execution of Smith under these circumstances may violate the prohibition of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” the international organization states.

Ignoring the jury, a judge sentenced Smith to death in 1988 for murder. It was not until 2022 when the capital punishment order came, but after four long hours without being able to perform the lethal injection, the process was postponed until now.