The execution of a Muslim inmate in Alabama has been blocked by a federal appeals court after the state refused to allow his imam to be present at his death, BBC News reported.
Domineque Ray, who was convicted in the death of a 15-year-old girl in 1995, was scheduled to be executed on Thursday, the report said.
His lawyers, however, argued the state infringed on his religious rights by denying his request for an imam instead of a chaplain during the execution, BBC News reported.
Following the court ruling, the state appealed the stay to the U.S. Supreme Court, the report said.
In an opinion by a three-judge panel reversed an earlier court ruling and delayed Ray’s lethal injection, saying Ray had a “powerful” claim against the state, BBC News reported.
The written opinion said: “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."
According to the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC), Christian chaplain Chris Summers has witnessed nearly every execution since 1997, the report said.
Ray's complaint seeks court relief 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, BBC News reported.
The federal judges also noted Ray has been a committed Muslim since 2006, and even the ADOC is not disputing the "sincerity of Ray's religious beliefs,” the report said.
In addition, Ray’s imam, Yusef Maisonet, has provided religious services to prisoners in the ADOC since 2015, BBC News said.
The ADOC insists, however, policy 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, the report said.
An earlier District Court ruling said Ray had waited too long to raise the legal issues against the ADOC, "waiting until the eleventh hour" to seek a religious exemption, the report said.
Ray has been an inmate for close to 20 years, the New York Times reported.
The prison warden had informed Ray of death penalty practices on Jan. 23, BBC News reported, and Ray's lawyer contends he was unaware of the religious policies until then, multiple media reports said.
Ray's legal team had suggested 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.”
– WN.com, Jack Durschlag
Photo:
AP / Alabama Department of Corrections via AP
