France condemns botched Oklahoma execution

France has condemned the execution of American prisoner Clayton Lockett after reports that he died of a heart attack following the failure to properly inject the fatal drugs. Paris called on the state of Oklahoma to declare a moratorium on the death penalty with a view to its abolition.

Clayton Lockett, who was executed in Oklahoma on Tuesday Reuters/Oklahoma Department of Corrections/Handout

“France condemns the execution of Clayton Lockett, which took place in the state of Oklahoma yesterday,” foreign affairs ministry deputy spokesperson Vincent Floréani said on Wednesday.

Lockett, a convicted murderer and rapist, writhed in agony and mumbled incoherently in a botched execution using untested drugs, before dying Tuesday of a heart attack 40 minutes into the ordeal, news reports said.

Paris “calls on the Oklahoma authorities to declare a moratorium with a view to abolition of this punishment, as numerous US states have,” Floréani said, adding that France opposes the death penalty “everywhere in the world”.

Oklahoma has postponed the scheduled execution of a second inmate, Charles Warner.

Warner’s lawyer, Madeline Cohen, declared in a statement that Lockett had been “tortured to death”.