SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Anti-capital punishment advocates hold a banner at a protest at the U.S. Supreme Court. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Stunning Critics, Oklahoma Turns to 'Experimental' Use of Nitrogen Gas to Kill People
"The suggestion by authorities that this new method is 'more humane'...ignores the unavoidable truth that there is no humane way to kill a conscious, thinking human being, and that the entire apparatus of capital punishment is deeply flawed and deeply wounding to us all."
Mar 15, 2018
Anti-capital punishment advocates on Thursday condemned an announcement by Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter this week that the state would begin using nitrogen gas to execute death row inmates, after being unable to secure lethal injection drugs.
\u201cJust reading about how much work has been put into finding a way to effectively kill human beings by the state of Oklahoma gives me the chills. As an Oklahoman, I am ashamed. - Oklahoma officials plan to use nitrogen for executions - ABC News - https://t.co/kUAYsBmCPj via @ABC\u201d— Sr. Theresa Aletheia \u2620\ufe0f (@Sr. Theresa Aletheia \u2620\ufe0f) 1521117960
Following challenges by prisoners and rights advocates, some manufacturers have stopped selling certain kinds of drugs to states for lethal injections, leaving some ready to use those on death row as guinea pigs as they experiment with the ways to carry out executions.
Oklahoma temporarily suspended its use of the death penalty in 2015 after the state used the wrong drug in one execution and left another inmate writhing in pain for 43 minutes due to an improperly placed IV. Later, that inmate died from what was determined to be a massive heart attack.
Hunter equated halting executions to "sitting on the sidelines" in a statement on Wednesday and said using nitrogen gas to kill inmates would be "effective, simple to administer, [and] easy to obtain."
Critics, including Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, raised concerns over the experimental nature of the newly proposed procedure.
"This is another execution process that is untested, untried, and experimental," he told the Independent.
According to the Independent, the American Veterinary Medical Association has deemed the use of nitrogen gas as unacceptable for euthanizing animals, and has said it would take several minutes for a 70-pound animal to die if the gas was administered.
Nitrogen gas has been used to euthanize people who have requested the procedure.
But "there is a significant difference between when someone is seeking to terminate their own life--and they are not struggling and are willfully participating--and what happens when you involuntarily seek to terminate the life of someone who wants to live, and who will be struggling and trying not to breathe," Dunham told the New York Times.
On social media, anti-death penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean denounced Oklahoma's plan to asphyxiate inmates.
\u201cAfter three years without an execution, Oklahoma announced today that it is moving towards reopening its death chamber for business, using asphyxiation via inert gas as its method of killing. We must fight this tooth and nail! 17 men are lined up for the state's death chamber.\u201d— Sister Helen Prejean (@Sister Helen Prejean) 1521067047
\u201cThe suggestion by authorities that this new method is "more humane" ignores the fact that it is an untried method, human experimentation practiced by the state upon its citizens.\u201d— Sister Helen Prejean (@Sister Helen Prejean) 1521067047
\u201cMore importantly, it ignores the unavoidable truths that there is no humane way to kill a conscious, thinking human being, and that the entire apparatus of capital punishment is deeply flawed and deeply wounding to us all.\u201d— Sister Helen Prejean (@Sister Helen Prejean) 1521067047
Why Your Ongoing Support Is Essential
Donald Trump’s attacks on democracy, justice, and a free press are escalating — putting everything we stand for at risk. We believe a better world is possible, but we can’t get there without your support. Common Dreams stands apart. We answer only to you — our readers, activists, and changemakers — not to billionaires or corporations. Our independence allows us to cover the vital stories that others won’t, spotlighting movements for peace, equality, and human rights. Right now, our work faces unprecedented challenges. Misinformation is spreading, journalists are under attack, and financial pressures are mounting. As a reader-supported, nonprofit newsroom, your support is crucial to keep this journalism alive. Whatever you can give — $10, $25, or $100 — helps us stay strong and responsive when the world needs us most. Together, we’ll continue to build the independent, courageous journalism our movement relies on. Thank you for being part of this community. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Anti-capital punishment advocates on Thursday condemned an announcement by Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter this week that the state would begin using nitrogen gas to execute death row inmates, after being unable to secure lethal injection drugs.
\u201cJust reading about how much work has been put into finding a way to effectively kill human beings by the state of Oklahoma gives me the chills. As an Oklahoman, I am ashamed. - Oklahoma officials plan to use nitrogen for executions - ABC News - https://t.co/kUAYsBmCPj via @ABC\u201d— Sr. Theresa Aletheia \u2620\ufe0f (@Sr. Theresa Aletheia \u2620\ufe0f) 1521117960
Following challenges by prisoners and rights advocates, some manufacturers have stopped selling certain kinds of drugs to states for lethal injections, leaving some ready to use those on death row as guinea pigs as they experiment with the ways to carry out executions.
Oklahoma temporarily suspended its use of the death penalty in 2015 after the state used the wrong drug in one execution and left another inmate writhing in pain for 43 minutes due to an improperly placed IV. Later, that inmate died from what was determined to be a massive heart attack.
Hunter equated halting executions to "sitting on the sidelines" in a statement on Wednesday and said using nitrogen gas to kill inmates would be "effective, simple to administer, [and] easy to obtain."
Critics, including Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, raised concerns over the experimental nature of the newly proposed procedure.
"This is another execution process that is untested, untried, and experimental," he told the Independent.
According to the Independent, the American Veterinary Medical Association has deemed the use of nitrogen gas as unacceptable for euthanizing animals, and has said it would take several minutes for a 70-pound animal to die if the gas was administered.
Nitrogen gas has been used to euthanize people who have requested the procedure.
But "there is a significant difference between when someone is seeking to terminate their own life--and they are not struggling and are willfully participating--and what happens when you involuntarily seek to terminate the life of someone who wants to live, and who will be struggling and trying not to breathe," Dunham told the New York Times.
On social media, anti-death penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean denounced Oklahoma's plan to asphyxiate inmates.
\u201cAfter three years without an execution, Oklahoma announced today that it is moving towards reopening its death chamber for business, using asphyxiation via inert gas as its method of killing. We must fight this tooth and nail! 17 men are lined up for the state's death chamber.\u201d— Sister Helen Prejean (@Sister Helen Prejean) 1521067047
\u201cThe suggestion by authorities that this new method is "more humane" ignores the fact that it is an untried method, human experimentation practiced by the state upon its citizens.\u201d— Sister Helen Prejean (@Sister Helen Prejean) 1521067047
\u201cMore importantly, it ignores the unavoidable truths that there is no humane way to kill a conscious, thinking human being, and that the entire apparatus of capital punishment is deeply flawed and deeply wounding to us all.\u201d— Sister Helen Prejean (@Sister Helen Prejean) 1521067047
Anti-capital punishment advocates on Thursday condemned an announcement by Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter this week that the state would begin using nitrogen gas to execute death row inmates, after being unable to secure lethal injection drugs.
\u201cJust reading about how much work has been put into finding a way to effectively kill human beings by the state of Oklahoma gives me the chills. As an Oklahoman, I am ashamed. - Oklahoma officials plan to use nitrogen for executions - ABC News - https://t.co/kUAYsBmCPj via @ABC\u201d— Sr. Theresa Aletheia \u2620\ufe0f (@Sr. Theresa Aletheia \u2620\ufe0f) 1521117960
Following challenges by prisoners and rights advocates, some manufacturers have stopped selling certain kinds of drugs to states for lethal injections, leaving some ready to use those on death row as guinea pigs as they experiment with the ways to carry out executions.
Oklahoma temporarily suspended its use of the death penalty in 2015 after the state used the wrong drug in one execution and left another inmate writhing in pain for 43 minutes due to an improperly placed IV. Later, that inmate died from what was determined to be a massive heart attack.
Hunter equated halting executions to "sitting on the sidelines" in a statement on Wednesday and said using nitrogen gas to kill inmates would be "effective, simple to administer, [and] easy to obtain."
Critics, including Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, raised concerns over the experimental nature of the newly proposed procedure.
"This is another execution process that is untested, untried, and experimental," he told the Independent.
According to the Independent, the American Veterinary Medical Association has deemed the use of nitrogen gas as unacceptable for euthanizing animals, and has said it would take several minutes for a 70-pound animal to die if the gas was administered.
Nitrogen gas has been used to euthanize people who have requested the procedure.
But "there is a significant difference between when someone is seeking to terminate their own life--and they are not struggling and are willfully participating--and what happens when you involuntarily seek to terminate the life of someone who wants to live, and who will be struggling and trying not to breathe," Dunham told the New York Times.
On social media, anti-death penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean denounced Oklahoma's plan to asphyxiate inmates.
\u201cAfter three years without an execution, Oklahoma announced today that it is moving towards reopening its death chamber for business, using asphyxiation via inert gas as its method of killing. We must fight this tooth and nail! 17 men are lined up for the state's death chamber.\u201d— Sister Helen Prejean (@Sister Helen Prejean) 1521067047
\u201cThe suggestion by authorities that this new method is "more humane" ignores the fact that it is an untried method, human experimentation practiced by the state upon its citizens.\u201d— Sister Helen Prejean (@Sister Helen Prejean) 1521067047
\u201cMore importantly, it ignores the unavoidable truths that there is no humane way to kill a conscious, thinking human being, and that the entire apparatus of capital punishment is deeply flawed and deeply wounding to us all.\u201d— Sister Helen Prejean (@Sister Helen Prejean) 1521067047
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.
LATEST NEWS
International Medical Workers Decry Israel's 'Deliberate Assault' on Their Gaza Colleagues
"We refuse to be silent while our colleagues are starved and shot by Israel," whose "ongoing genocide and deepening siege have effectively destroyed the entire health system in Gaza."
Aug 13, 2025
More than 120 doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals from around the world who have worked in Gaza since late 2023 published a letter on Wednesday expressing solidarity with their Palestinian colleagues, who "continue to endure unimaginable violence" amid Israel's 22-month U.S.-backed annihilation and siege.
"Today, we raise our voices again in full solidarity with our Palestinian colleagues in Gaza," the international medical workers wrote in the open letter first obtained by Zeteo and also published by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, which along with B'Tselem last month became the first two Israeli advocacy groups to accuse their country of genocide.
"We refuse to be silent while our colleagues are starved and shot by Israel," declared the letter's signers, who "have witnessed firsthand the scale and severity of suffering" inflicted by Israeli bombs, bullets, and blockade.
The letter continues: "Israel's ongoing genocide and deepening siege have effectively destroyed the entire health system in Gaza. The few remaining partially functioning hospitals are held together by the determination and commitment of Palestinian doctors and nurses, all of whom continue to care for patients despite the constant risk of targeting, and now starvation too."
In a historic letter, 123 doctors from around the world who've served in Gaza demand international action to stop the horrors their Palestinian colleagues & Palestinian people face.“We reject the violence of silence and supposed neutrality while our colleagues are starved and shot at by Israel.”
[image or embed]
— Prem Thakker ツ (@premthakker.bsky.social) August 13, 2025 at 8:14 AM
"Our Palestinian colleagues—doctors, nurses, and first responders—are all rapidly losing weight due to forced starvation at the hands of the Israeli government," the signers said. "Many suffer from hunger, dizziness, and fainting episodes while performing operations and triaging patients in emergency rooms. Most have been displaced into tents after being forced from their homes, and many are surviving on less than a single serving of rice a day."
"Palestinian healthcare workers have been killed in large numbers as a result of Israel's repeated and systemic attacks on the health system and health workforce," the letter notes. "Over 1,580 health workers had been killed as of May 2025."
Furthermore, "the Israeli military has abducted, unlawfully detained, abused, and tortured hundreds of Palestinian healthcare workers, holding them in abject conditions in prisons and detention camps."
"The Israeli state has repeatedly blocked patient evacuations and international medical initiatives, and has closed or obstructed critical evacuation and humanitarian routes," the letter states. "Israel continues to systematically block the entry of critical supplies—medications, surgical tools, food, and even baby formula. As a result, Palestinian health workers must try to save lives in hospitals without the most basic supplies that are readily available only a short distance away."
The letter continues:
Patients cannot heal without adequate nutrition and access to comprehensive health services. If someone survives being shot by an Israeli soldier or a blast injury from an Israeli warplane, they still have to heal from their wounds. Malnutrition is a major barrier to full recovery, leaving people susceptible to infections for which very little treatment is now available in Gaza. Put simply: Your body cannot heal when you have not eaten properly in days or sometimes weeks, as is now commonplace in Gaza. The same is true for doctors and healthcare workers, who are struggling to provide care while facing the same conditions of extreme deprivation.
"These are not logistical challenges that can be solved simply by more medical aid or more international medical delegations," the signers added. "This is an entirely man-made crisis driven by limitless cruelty and complete disregard for Palestinian life."
The medical professionals are demanding international action to:
- Protect Palestinian healthcare workers and all Palestinians;
- Protect health sites and immediately stop the attacks on all health facilities;
- Lift Israel's illegal blockade and ensure unimpeded humanitarian access for food, clean water, medical supplies, and fuel distribution;
- Ensure an immediate and permanent cease-fire and an end to the unlawful military occupation of Gaza; and
- Hold accountable those responsible for attacks, detentions, and abuse affecting the medical mission in Gaza.
In addition to the 123 signatories who worked in Gaza, another 159 medical professionals from around the world signed the letter in solidarity.
The new letter comes as the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—a fugitive from the International Criminal Court wanted for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes—is preparing a major offensive to fully occupy and ethnically cleanse Gaza.
Launched in retaliation for the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, Israel's 676-day assault and siege on Gaza has left at least 230,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Most of Gaza's more than 2 million inhabitants have also been forcibly displaced, often multiple times. At least 235 Gazans, including 106 children, have starved to death amid a growing famine.
Despite growing international outrage and condemnation of Israel's obliteration of Gaza, there is no end in sight.
Top Journalism Watchdog Rebukes International Community for Silence on Israeli 'War Crime'
"It is hard to see," said the head of the Committee to Protect Journalists, "if Israel can wipe out an entire news crew without the international community so much as batting an eye, what will stop further attacks on reporters."
Aug 13, 2025
Nearly two years into Israel's assault on Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces' killing of six journalists this week provoked worldwide outrage—but a leading press freedom advocate said Wednesday that the slaughter of the Palestinian reporters can "hardly" be called surprising, considering the international community's refusal to stop Israel from killing hundreds of journalists and tens of thousands of other civilians in Gaza since October 2023.
Israel claimed without evidence that Anas al-Sharif, a prominent Al Jazeera journalist who was killed in an airstrike Sunday along with four of his colleagues at the network and a freelance reporter, was the leader of a Hamas cell—an allegation Al Jazeera, the United Nations, and rights groups vehemently denied.
Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists, wrote in The Guardian that al-Sharif was one of at least 26 Palestinian reporters that Israel has admitted to deliberately targeting while presenting "no independently verifiable evidence" that they were militants or involved in hostilities in any way.
Israel did not publish the "current intelligence" it claimed to have showing al-Sharif was a Hamas operative, and Ginsberg outlined how the IDF appeared to target al-Sharif after he drew attention to the starvation of Palestinians—which human rights groups and experts have said is the direct result of Israel's near-total blockade on humanitarian aid.
"The Committee to Protect Journalists had seen this playbook from Israel before: a pattern in which journalists are accused by Israel of being terrorists with no credible evidence," wrote Ginsberg, noting the CPJ demanded al-Sharif's protection last month as Israel's attacks intensified.
The five other journalists who were killed when the IDF struck a press tent in Gaza City were not accused of being militants.
The IDF "has not said what crime it believes the others have committed that would justify killing them," wrote Ginsberg. "The laws of war are clear: Journalists are civilians. To target them deliberately in war is to commit a war crime."
"It is hardly surprising that Israel believes it can get away with murder. In the two decades preceding October, Israeli forces killed 20 journalists."
Just as weapons have continued flowing from the United States and other Western countries to Israel despite its killing of at least 242 Palestinian journalists and more than 61,000 other civilians since October 2023, Ginsberg noted, Israel had reason to believe it could target reporters even before the IDF began its current assault on Gaza.
"It is hardly surprising that Israel believes it can get away with murder," wrote Ginsberg. "In the two decades preceding October, Israeli forces killed 20 journalists. No one has ever been held accountable for any of those deaths, including that of the Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, whose killing in 2022 sent shock waves through the region."
The reaction to the killing of the six journalists this week from the Trump administration—the largest international funder of the Israeli military—and the corporate media in the U.S. has exemplified what Ginsberg called the global community's "woeful" response to the slaughter of journalists by Israel, which has long boasted of its supposed status as a bastion of press freedom in the Middle East.
As Middle East Eye reported Tuesday, at the first U.S. State Department briefing since al-Sharif and his colleagues were killed, spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the airstrike targeting journalists was a legitimate attack by "a nation fighting a war" and repeated Israel's unsubstantiated claims about al-Sharif.
"I will remind you again that we're dealing with a complicated, horrible situation," she told a reporter from Al Jazeera Arabic. "We refer you to Israel. Israel has released evidence al-Sharif was part of Hamas and was supportive of the Hamas attack on October 7. They're the ones who have the evidence."
A CNN anchor also echoed Israel's allegations of terrorism in an interview with Foreign Press Association president Ian Williams, prompting the press freedom advocate to issue a reminder that—even if Israel's claims were true—journalists are civilians under international law, regardless of their political beliefs and affiliations.
"Frankly, I don't care whether al-Sharif was in Hamas or not," said Williams. "We don't kill journalists for being Republicans or Democrats or, in Britain, Labour Party."
Ginsberg warned that even "our own journalism community" across the world has thus far failed reporters in Gaza—now the deadliest war for journalists that CPJ has ever documented—compared to how it has approached other conflicts.
"Whereas the Committee to Protect Journalists received significant offers of support and solidarity when journalists were being killed in Ukraine at the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, the reaction from international media over the killings of our journalist colleagues in Gaza at the start of the war was muted at best," said Ginsberg.
International condemnation has "grown more vocal" following the killing of al-Sharif and his colleagues, including Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, Moamen Aliwa, and Mohammad al-Khaldi, said Ginsberg.
"But it is hard to see," she said, "if Israel can wipe out an entire news crew without the international community so much as batting an eye, what will stop further attacks on reporters."
Three U.N. experts on Tuesday demanded an immediate independent investigation into the journalists' killing, saying that a refusal from Israel to allow such a probe would "reconfirm its own culpability and cover-up of the genocide."
"Journalism is not terrorism. Israel has provided no credible evidence of the latter against any of the journalists that it has targeted and killed with impunity," said the experts, including Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.
"These are acts of an arrogant army that believes itself to be impune, no matter the gravity of the crimes it commits," they said. "The impunity must end. The states that continue to support Israel must now place tough sanctions against its government in order to end the killings, the atrocities, and the mass starvation."
'We Are Being Cooked Alive': Wildfires Driven by Climate Crisis Ravage Europe
Fire-related deaths were reported in Turkey, Spain, Montenegro, and Albania.
Aug 13, 2025
With firefighters in southern Europe battling blazes that have killed people in multiple countries and forced thousands to evacuate, Spain's environment minister on Wednesday called the wildfires a "clear warning" of the climate emergency driven by the fossil fuel industry.
While authorities have cited a variety of causes for current fires across the continent, from arson to "careless farming practices, improperly maintained power cables, and summer lightning storms," scientists have long stressed that wildfires are getting worse as humanity heats the planet with fossil fuels.
The Spanish minister, Sara Aagesen, told the radio network Cadena SER that "the fires are one of the parts of the impact of that climate change, which is why we have to do all we can when it comes to prevention."
"Our country is especially vulnerable to climate change. We have resources now but, given that the scientific evidence and the general expectation point to it having an ever greater impact, we need to work to reinforce and professionalize those resources," Aagesen added in remarks translated by The Guardian.
The Spanish meteorological agency, AEMET, said on social media Wednesday that "the danger of wildfires continues at very high or extreme levels in most of Spain, despite the likelihood of showers in many areas," and urged residents to "take extreme precautions!"
The heatwave impacting Spain "peaked on Tuesday with temperatures as high as 45°C (113°F)," according to Reuters. AEMET warned that "starting Thursday, the heat will intensify again," and is likely to continue through Monday.
The heatwave is also a sign of climate change, Akshay Deoras, a research scientist in the Meteorology Department at the U.K.'s University of Reading, told Agence France-Presse this week.
"Thanks to climate change, we now live in a significantly warmer world," Deoras said, adding that "many still underestimate the danger."
There have been at least two fire-related deaths in Spain this week: a man working at a horse stable on the outskirts of the Spanish capital Madrid, and a 35-year-old volunteer firefighter trying to make firebreaks near the town of Nogarejas, in the Castile and León region.
Acknowledging the firefighter's death on social media Tuesday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez sent his "deepest condolences to their family, friends, and colleagues," and wished "much strength and a speedy recovery to the people injured in that same fire."
According to The New York Times, deaths tied to the fires were also reported in Turkey, Montenegro, and Albania. Additionally, The Guardian noted, "a 4-year-old boy who was found unconscious in his family's car in Sardinia died in Rome on Monday after suffering irreversible brain damage caused by heatstroke."
There are also fires in Greece, France, and Portugal, where the mayor of Vila Real, Alexandre Favaios, declared that "we are being cooked alive, this cannot continue."
Reuters on Wednesday highlighted Greenpeace estimates that investing €1 billion, or $1.17 billion, annually in forest management could save 9.9 million hectares or 24.5 million acres—an area bigger than Portugal—and tens of billions of euros spent on firefighting and restoration work.
The European fires are raging roughly three months out from the next United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP30, which is scheduled to begin on November 10 in Belém, Brazil.
Most Popular
We cover the issues the corporate media never will.
Please support our journalism.