Ohio and Arizona – two states that also saw prolonged executions in 2014 – use midazolam in a two-drug protocol.
Holder told Gwen Ifill on PBS NewsHour that he is "greatly troubled" by the series of prolonged executions carried out in the US states of Ohio, Oklahoma and most recently Arizona.
In recent years, the drug's use in lethal injections has been intensely debated after it was used in a bungled execution in Oklahoma and unusually prolonged executions that, in some cases, saw inmates gasping for breath in Ohio, Arizona and, in December, Alabama.
There is a great incentive to prolong the execution time.
The Government of Iran continues to engage in serious, systematic, and ongoing violations of human rights, including suppression of freedom of expression and religious freedom, illegitimately prolonged detention, torture, and executions.
But persecution has increased: "The government of Iran continues to engage in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, including prolonged detention, torture, and executions based primarily or entirely upon the religion of the accused".
The Commission's 2013 report concluded: "The government of Iran continues to engage in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, including prolonged detention, torture, and executions based primarily or entirely upon the religion of the accused".
But persecution has increased: "The government of Iran continues to engage in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, including prolonged detention, torture, and executions based primarily or entirely upon the religion of the accused". Atheists, Baha'is, Christians, Jews, Sunni Muslims, and Zoroastrians all are at risk.
The Oklahoma prison admitted that the drugs and IV fluid "infiltrated" and "extravasated" into the tissues of Lockett's groin because of the misplaced catheter, and that is why the execution was prolonged and botched.
Alito's majority opinion, joined by the court's other Republican appointees, answered the issue with a ringing endorsement of the protocol, despite the fact that the cocktail had caused prolonged agony in two previous executions.
But these impediments have the consequence of proving Angelico's intimate glories, which blossom given prolonged attention to the details of execution.
