UN rights chief urges Tennessee not to repeat execution attempt

Geneva: UN rights chief Volker Turk urged Tennessee not to try executing Christa Pike again following her survival of two lethal injection doses. Pike, 50, is currently recovering in a hospital after Tennessee's second failed execution attempt in recent months. The UN rights office highlighted the case of Christa Pike as an example of why the death penalty should be abolished, citing the prolonged physical and mental suffering endured due to multiple failed attempts.

On Wednesday, the US Supreme Court allowed Pike to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in 200 years, but the execution attempt was unsuccessful. Turk called on state authorities to refrain from pursuing any further executions of Pike. The UN rights office expressed concern over the rising number of executions in the United States, emphasizing that the death penalty has no place in any society.

Pike was 18 years old when she and her boyfriend committed the murder of Colleen Slemmer, 19, at a young people's job training camp. The incident gained national attention when Slemmer's body was discovered with a pentagram carved into her chest. Pike's lawyers argued for clemency based on her young age and mental health issues at the time of the killing.

Since 1976, 18 women have been executed in the United States, according to the Death Penalty Information Centre.