Alabama executes inmate after top court denies Imam’s presence

The US state of Alabama has executed a Muslim inmate after the Supreme Court dismissed his appeal for an imam to be present with him at death.

Convicted murderer Dominique Ray was killed by lethal injection on Thursday as scheduled.

Ray, 42, was sentenced to death in 1999 for his part in the 1995 rape and murder of a teenage girl, Tiffany Harville, in Selma, Alabama. His co-defendant in the case, Marcus Owden, is serving life without parole.

Ray's lawyers had argued that the state favored Christians because a chaplain was allowed to be in the room with inmates.

Imam Yusef Maisonet instead watched from an adjacent room, reports said.

On Wednesday a federal appeals court agreed to a temporary delay to the execution, saying in its judgment that Ray had a "powerful" claim against the state because it refused to "provide the same benefit to a devout Muslim and all other non-Christians".

However, Alabama quickly appealed to the Supreme Court, which ruled five to four in its favor.

"Due to the nature of his crime, the decision of a jury to condemn him to death and because our legal system has worked as designed, Mr. Ray's sentence was carried out," Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement.

"Courts at every level have upheld Ray's conviction for his senseless act. Accordingly, the laws of this state have been carried out. It is my prayer that, with tonight's events, Miss Harville's family can finally have closure."

The Supreme Court voted Thursday to lift a stay for the death row inmate. He had argued his religious rights were violated because he couldn't have his imam by his side at his execution.

The Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) employs a Christian chaplain who has been in the execution room for nearly every execution since 1997 - but ADOC refused to allow a non-employee to be in the execution chamber instead of the chaplain.The government primary school at Koko Majri village in Sunam block of Sangrur district is lacking basic amenities in the building bestowed by the education department. The administration has failed to provide appropriate facilities to the students so that they can study in a proper environment.

The classes at primary school have been running from a single room in a dilapidated building at the primary block of a senior secondary school in Sunam.

“The school has 32 students including 12 of pre-primary classes, while 20 are in five classes which are being held in this congested room,” a teacher said, adding that all stationery and other material were also placed in the room.

Students attending the school belong to a financially weaker section of society. In one classroom, there is only one blackboard, where three teachers teach various subjects in different corners.

Teachers said the school was shifted to this place from a Dharamshala three years back and the authorities till date haven’t considered shifting it to a better place. The district education officer had visited the school many times but nothing has been done so far to relieve students from the dingy classroom, they added.

Principle Rachpal Kaur said that the school do not receive any development grant from the education department. We are running school in just one room, which is a very difficult task. She said they have repeatedly written to the education department to provide proper school facilities and infrastructure but nothing has been done so far.

“Despite lack of facilities and infrastructure, we have produced outstanding results as school is listed 8th among the other 53 schools of the block on the base of performance,”

Harjit Kumar, district education officer (elementary) said that the school would be merged with a nearby school soon. He said a proposal was sent to the state department for the merger of school after which all the student will be a shift to primary boys school Sunam.

MLA from Sunam constituency Aman Arora recently visited the school premises and assured school authorities to raise the issue with education minister OP Soni.

“The school authorities are doing the commendable job despite a shortage of funds and facilities, I will raise this issue with education minister and school will be converted into a smart school,” he said.