"Why is India forced to play henchman to the Nebraska executioner?" is the title of Maya Foa's Gurdian commentary. Foa is with the British organization Reprieve. Here's the beginning:
In a grim irony which marks a new low even for the lethal injection business, drugs that were meant to save lives in one of the world's poorest countries are set to be used to kill in the world's richest nation.
The US state of Nebraska is fighting to be allowed to carry out an execution using drugs manufactured in India, which the manufacturer believed were bound for sub-Saharan Africa for legitimate medical use. When this grim event takes place it will be the first execution in Nebraska since 1997, and the first ever in the state by lethal injection. You'd think the Nebraska department of correctional services (NDCS) would be anxious to see all go smoothly. That they'd leave no room for error, no reason to query their new execution procedure. Not so. NDCS's blundering attempts to procure execution drugs over the past 12 months have drawn criticism from the courts, sanctions by the drugs enforcement agency (DEA), public opprobrium and ridicule from the press. It would be farcical were it not so tragic.
It's not just the condemned man's fate that is on the line: the pharmaceutical manufacturer Naari is in despair. The company is named by NDCS as the manufacturer of the drugs intended for the execution of Michael Ryan. This despite the fact that Naari has never had any dealings with NDCS, is vehemently opposed to the use of its drugs in executions, and isn't even licensed to sell drugs in the US.
Earlier coverage of the Nebraska drugs begins at the link. Foa was also involved with calculations on the diminishing stock of Texas' lethal injection drugs. Related posts are in the international and lethal injection indexes.
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