The US state of Alabama Thursday used for the second time the controversial nitrogen gas asphyxiation method to put down death row inmate Alan Eugene Miller for the 1999 killing of three co workers. While supporters of this mechanism claim that the person being executed loses consciousness quickly, which makes it more humane than other execution methods, others contend that nitrogen could lead to excessive pain and torture and that there is no way of knowing with certainty at which point a person loses consciousness when exposed to 100% nitrogen. Miller was pronounced dead at 6.38 pm local time at Atmore prison.
Kenneth Eugene Smith, an inmate in the US State of Alabama, Thursday became the first person ever to be put to death through the controversial nitrogen hypoxia mechanism.
Transgender inmate Amber McLaughlin is scheduled to become Tuesday the first person with that condition to be put to death by lethal injection after Missouri Governor Mike Parson (R) denied that last clemency request. She was convicted of killing her girlfriend in 2003.
Cuba's one-party legislature Sunday passed a new Penal Code, which was considered to be modern and adjusted to the country's socialist reality, it was announced in Havana.
Japanese judicial authorities Tuesday hanged three death row inmates in the first executions since Dec. 26, 2019 -when a Chinese citizen convicted in the 2003 killing of a family of four in Fukuoka was put to death-, and the first under Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Justice Minister Yoshihisa Furukawa said he gave the order to resume capital punishment.
The European Union (EU) has insisted governments should move forward with abolishing the death penalty worldwide.
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam Wednesday signed into law a bill whereby the death penalty has been abolished after over 400 years in the force, thus making his state the 23rd to take such a step.
Malaysia's government has pledged to amend the law and abolish capital punishment. It will also halt all pending executions, it was reported.