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Both the death penalty itself and methods used for execution have been condemned as torture or cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment by a large part of the international community, civil society and academia. Brief examples of some current intersections are below. In the USA, three states - Alabama, Mississippi and Oklahoma - have approved the use of nitrogen as an alternative execution method to lethal injection. Alabama is seeking to be the first to use this method, despite concerns the practice amounts to suffocation. Concerns about torture are further heightened as Alabama plans to use it to kill a man who survived an aborted execution by lethal injection one year ago. One year on from the death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of police in Iran, there are credible, ongoing reports of protesters being tortured and of the death penalty being imposed to silence dissent, often following sham trials and using confessions induced by torture. In Bangladesh, authorities continue to reportedly secretly imprison and torture victims of enforced disappearances, while threatening and intimidating family members and human rights defenders who call out such practices. Notably, the leaders of human rights organisation Odhikar, Adilur Rahman Khan and ASM Nasiruddin Elan, were imprisoned this month following a highly criticised 10-year trial, which was condemned by the European Parliament and the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute. Find out more about World Day from the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty and use #nodeathpenalty to show your support for a world without capital punishment.
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