U.N. Condemns Oklahoma's Botched Execution of Clayton Lockett

[deminks]

http://www.alternet.org/world/un-condemns-oklahomas-botched-execution-clayton-lockett

The United Nations human rights office on Friday condemned the bungled and chaotic execution of an Oklahoma death-row inmate, which left him thrashing on the gurney during a chaotic process that lasted nearly two hours.

A spokesman for the UN high commissioner for human rights in Geneva said that the process to which Clayton Lockett was subjected on Tuesday may have amounted to "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment" under international human rights law, and may have violated the US constitution.

Barack Obama admitted on Friday that the manner of Lockett's execution was "deeply troubling" and said he had asked the US attorney general, Eric Holder, to provide a review of the issues raised by it. "I do think as a society we have to ask ourselves some difficult questions," he said.

(snip)

Colville said that the execution also appeared to run counter to the US constitution, which bars "cruel and unusual punishment". He told reporters: "The prolonged death of Clayton Lockett is the second case of apparent extreme suffering caused by malfunctioning lethal injections reported in 2014 in the United States," referring to the case of Dennis McGuire, executed in Ohio in January with an allegedly untested combination of drugs.

"The apparent cruelty involved in these recent executions simply reinforces the argument that authorities across the United States should impose an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty and work for abolition of this cruel and inhuman practice," said Colville.

(end snip)

[chrisstopher]

1. Hotpants Fallen is going to fall all over herself

Trying to convince Oklahoma n's that this is all a plot by Obama to discredit her during her reelection campaign.