A federal appeals court has blocked the execution of a Muslim inmate in Alabama after the state refused to allow his imam to be present at his death.<\/p>\n
Domineque Ray, convicted of murdering a 15-year-old girl in 1995, was scheduled for execution on Thursday.<\/p>\n
But his lawyers argued that the state infringed on his religious rights by denying his request for an imam over a chaplain during the execution.<\/p>\n
The state has now appealed the stay to the US Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
A three-judge panel reversed an earlier court ruling and delayed Ray’s death by lethal injection,\u00a0writing in an opinion<\/a>\u00a0that Ray had a “powerful” claim against the state.<\/p>\n “The central constitutional problem here is that the state has regularly placed a Christian cleric in the execution room to minister to the needs of Christian inmates, but has refused to provide the same benefit to a devout Muslim and all other non-Christians.”<\/p>\n According to the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC), Christian chaplain Chris Summers has witnessed nearly every execution since 1997.<\/p>\n Ray’s complaint requests the court to not mandate the chaplain’s presence in his execution chamber and to allow his imam instead, “so that he may receive spiritual guidance and comfort from a cleric of his own faith” at the time of his death.<\/p>\n The federal judges also noted that Ray has been a committed Muslim since 2006, and even the ADOC is not disputing the “sincerity of Ray’s religious beliefs”.<\/p>\n In addition, his imam, Yusef Maisonet, has been providing religious services to prisoners in the ADOC since 2015.<\/p>\n The ADOC insists, however, that it will not allow a non-employee to be in the chamber in place of the chaplain. The imam could be present in the witness room and meet Ray ahead of the execution.<\/p>\n An earlier District Court ruling said Ray had taken too long to raise the legal issues against the ADOC, “waiting until the eleventh hour” to seek a religious exemption.<\/p>\n Ray has been an inmate for close to 20 years,\u00a0the New York Times reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n The prison warden had informed Ray of the death penalty practices on 23 January, and Ray’s lawyer contends he was unaware of the religious policies until then, US media reported.<\/p>\n Ray’s counsel had then suggested that the state train and screen his imam, who is already familiar with prison visitations, but the state responded by saying “it could not do so”.<\/p>\n Judge Stanley Marcus, writing for the federal appeals panel, said the state cannot appear to favour Christianity over Islam and then say it cannot provide the same rights to both.<\/p>\n “Quite simply, the power, prestige, and support of the state may not be placed behind a particular religious belief.”<\/p>\n “Alabama appears to have set up precisely the sort of denominational preference that the Framers of the First Amendment forbade.”<\/p>\n The First Amendment states that the US government cannot make any laws regarding establishment of religion or prohibiting the exercise religious beliefs.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Alabama Council of Islamic Relations<\/a>\u00a0(CAIR) said they welcomed the appeals decision and “hope Mr Ray will ultimately be provided equal access to spiritual guidance”.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n UPDATE:<\/p>\n The US state of Alabama executed a Muslim inmate after the Supreme Court dismissed his appeal for an imam to be present with him at death.<\/p>\n Convicted murderer Dominique Ray was killed by lethal injection on Thursday as scheduled.<\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"