Trust me, I'm an executioner

Phew, thats ok then! Death penalty states in American can now go back to executing people with lethal injections.

The Supreme Court has ruled that there is nothing unconstitutional about these killings and that the state of Kentucky and others can get on with them.

Never mind it seems the fact that there have been numerous reports of prisoners paralysed, in pain and unable to cry out when the drugs failed to work in an efficient (ie lethal) way.

Theyre trapped in a chemical straitjacket.

This is like that classic horror situation that we hear about when people on the operating table who are not properly anaesthatised can feel the surgeons knife cutting into their body.

Except this is happening to people in their last moments on earth.

If you WERENT an animal lover (though, in fairness, who ISNT one?) you still wouldnt risk this happening to a cat or a dog. And, guess what? For the past five years the state of Texas has banned similar lethal injections in animal euthanasia.

Its ironic (kind of) that this Supreme Court news has emerged just after we at Amnesty have published the annual statistics on the death penalty globally. We noted, for instance, that there were 42 executions in the USA last year bad enough, but actually the lowest level for a decade.

TalkLefts got something up on it plus quite bit of US comment coming in.

So, the unofficial US moratorium is over and were back to a situation where prisoners can be trapped in their chemical straitjacket, unable to cry out.

As theyll say in the publicity for some future horror film set on death row in the execution chamber, no-one can hear you scream.