⏳ Final hours! Save up to 60% OFF InvestingProCLAIM SALE

Europe should boycott Alabama over nitrogen execution - peace group

Published 01/23/2024, 09:11 AM
Updated 01/23/2024, 09:16 AM
© Reuters. Kenneth Eugene Smith, convicted for a murder-for-hire committed in 1988, and who is scheduled to be executed in the U.S. state of Alabama by asphyxiation using pure nitrogen, poses for an undated booking photo at Holman Prison in Atmore, Alabama, U.S.
MBGn
-

By Philip Pullella

ROME (Reuters) - A peace group with close ties to the Vatican said on Tuesday it will appeal to European businesses and tourists to boycott the U.S. state of Alabama if it went ahead with the execution of an inmate by nitrogen gas this week.

The warning by the Sant' Egidio Community involves Kenneth Smith, who was convicted of a 1988 murder and who survived a botched execution attempt by lethal injection in 2022.

His lawyers appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court last week to block the second attempt, saying it violates the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Smith's case has also alarmed the U.N. human rights office, which said last week that the execution planned for Jan. 25 could amount to torture and violate U.S. commitments under international law.

At a news conference where he spoke about an eventual boycott, Mario Marazziti, Sant' Egidio's expert on the death penalty, mentioned that Germany automaker Mercedes Benz (ETR:MBGn) has a plant in Alabama and that many Europeans go to the southern state for its golf courses.

"This is a proposal that we will make if the execution of Kenneth Smith goes ahead," he said, adding that he believed European trade or investment in Alabama amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

"There is a moment in which you have to choose. Even for South Africa, it seemed that to boycott could not be effective but it became decisive to end the apartheid regime. I think we must try something that has not been tried so far," Marazziti told Reuters in a separate interview.

He told the news conference that Europeans could "study alternatives to their investments in the United States" depending on how states dealt with human rights issues.

The Sant' Egidio Community, which has branches in many countries and brokered peace deals, has close ties to the Vatican. Pope Francis, who supports a global ban on capital punishment, has often praised the group.

Smith's lawyers have argued that the decision to gas Smith by strapping to his face a commercially made industrial-safety breathing mask connected to a canister of pure nitrogen comes with risks of botching the second attempt to execute him.

© Reuters. Kenneth Eugene Smith, convicted for a murder-for-hire committed in 1988, and who is scheduled to be executed in the U.S. state of Alabama by asphyxiation using pure nitrogen, poses for an undated booking photo at Holman Prison in Atmore, Alabama, U.S.     Alabama Department of Corrections/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

Marazziti rejected a statement by Alabama Solicitor General Edmund LaCour that using nitrogen was the most painless and humane method.

"There is no painless method of execution," Marazziti said.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.