America’s largest drug wholesaler has once again succeeded in blocking the use of dishonestly-obtained medicines in Arkansas’s planned 'mass execution'.
Virginia state governor Terry McAuliffe has resurrected a proposal to use secret batches of specially mixed medicines in executions by lethal injection, raising concerns over a lack of transparency.
The US State of Georgia last night executed 72 year old Brandon Astor Jones, the oldest person on death row in the State. Mr Jones had served 36 years in prison.
The state of Arizona yesterday took almost two hours to kill a prisoner using the same combination of drugs used in a botched execution in Ohio earlier this year.
An execution carried out yesterday by Ohio, using a new, untested combination of drugs, shows strong signs of having caused prolonged suffering to the prisoner.
Prisons in the US are holding large stockpiles of life-saving medicines, which they plan to use in executions, while hospitals face shortages of the same drugs.
A pharmaceutical company which has taken steps to prevent its product from being used in executions is to receive an award recognising ethical leadership.