GENEVA, UN human rights experts have expressed alarm over the recent surge in unannounced mass executions in Iraqi prisons, specifically in Nasiriyah Central Prison. They have urgently called on the Iraqi government to immediately cease these executions, highlighting concerns over the secretive nature of these actions and potential violations of international human rights standards.
According to Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN experts were shocked to learn of the execution of 13 male prisoners on December 25, 2023, marking the largest number of prisoners executed in a single day by Iraq since November 2020. These executions, conducted without prior notification to families or lawyers, raise serious concerns about the lack of transparency and due process in the implementation of the death penalty in Iraq.
The UN experts cited the United Nations Safeguards Protecting the Rights of those Facing the Death Penalty, emphasizing the necessity for transparency in capital punishment cases. The Human Rights Committee has deemed the failure to provide timely notification of executions as a form of ill-treatment that contravenes international human rights laws.
Further concerns were raised about allegations of torture and ill-treatment of detainees in Nasiriyah Central Prison, as well as the absence of prompt and impartial investigations into these allegations. The experts also criticized Iraq’s Anti-Terrorism Law for its vague definition of terrorism and potential for abuse.
The experts warned that widespread and systematic arbitrary executions could amount to crimes against humanity, and called for clemency and the commuting of death sentences as initial steps towards the abolition of the death penalty in Iraq.
GENEVA, United Nations human rights experts have strongly condemned the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith by nitrogen gas inhalation in Alabama, United States, marking the first officially sanctioned human execution by this method on January 25, 2024. This execution has raised significant concerns about the use of untested methods that could amount to torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.
According to Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN experts criticized the experimental use of nitrogen gas for execution, a method previously shown to cause suffering in animals. They highlighted the prolonged and apparently agonizing nature of Smith’s death, which reportedly took over 20 minutes, during which he remained conscious, writhed, convulsed, gasped for air, and violently shook in restraints.
Smith, aged 58, had been on death row for decades for a crime committed in 1988. His initial death sentence was dismissed on procedural grounds, and a subsequent jury decision for a life sentence was overridden by a judge who imposed the death penalty. Smith had previously survived a botched execution attempt by intravenous injection in 2022, which reportedly amounted to torture.
The UN experts described Alabama’s use of Smith as an unethical human experiment and state-sanctioned torture, expressing concern for the extreme distress and suffering caused to Smith and his relatives. They had previously called for a stay of Smith’s execution, arguing that nitrogen gas inhalation causes painful and humiliating death and is contrary to international law, including the prohibition of torture.
The experts reiterated their concerns over other US states considering nitrogen gas inhalation as an execution method and called for its ban, reminding the United States of its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention against Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). These conventions guarantee the right of individuals, including detainees, against torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.
The execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith is viewed by the experts as a grim reminder of the death penalty’s barbaric nature and a call for intensifying efforts for its abolition in the United States and worldwide.