Alabama to conduct first nitrogen-gassing execution

In late 2023, it was announced that Alabama has scheduled the first nitrogen-gassing execution ever, commencing 25 January 2024.

United Nations experts have called for authorities to halt this planned execution, with concerns that the untested method may subject prisoner, Kenneth Smith, to ‘cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or even torture’.

You can read more via the ABC here.

The decision has also prompted an op-ed by Stephen Cooper and Cantor Michael J. Zoosman, published on Jurist, which argues that the Jewish community has a unique obligation to voice resistance to this approach to the death penalty in Alabama. You can read the article in full here.