Alabama in the United States, US, has executed a convicted murderer, Kenneth Eugene Smith with nitrogen gas.
This is the first time the method of capital punishment has been used globally.
58-year-old Smith lost two final appeals to the US Supreme Court and one to a US federal appeals court, arguing the execution was a cruel and unusual punishment.
In 2022, Alabama tried and failed to execute Smith by lethal injection.
He was convicted in 1989 of murdering a preacher’s wife, Elizabeth Sennett, in a killing-for-hire.
According to the US Death Penalty Information Center, Smith is the first person to be put to death using pure nitrogen gas anywhere in the world.
Smith was said to have thrashed violently on the gurney, with the process taking around 25 minutes in total.
Alabama and two other US states have approved the use of nitrogen hypoxia as an alternative method of execution because the drugs used in lethal injections have become more difficult to find, contributing to a fall in the use of the death penalty nationally.
“Tonight Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards,” Smith said.
“Thank you for supporting me. Love all of you.”
After the gas began to flow into his mask, the inmate was said to have smiled, nodded toward his family and signed “I love you”.
