Alabama has executed convicted murderer Kenneth Eugene Smith with nitrogen gas, the first time the method of capital punishment has been used globally.
A witness told the BBC that Smith thrashed violently on the gurney and the execution took around 25 minutes.
The UN condemned it on Friday as cruel but Alabama said the process had been carried out humanely.
Smith was convicted in 1989 of murdering a preacher’s wife, Elizabeth Sennett, in a killing-for-hire.
In his final words, the 58-year-old said his death would mean Alabama had taken humanity “a step backwards”.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Smith is the first person to be put to death using pure nitrogen gas anywhere in the world.
(BBC News)
