Muslim prisoner executed despite argument over having an Imam present

A Muslim inmate whose execution was blocked at the 11th hour because he was denied a request to have an imam present has been put to death after judges in the US cleared the way.

Dominique Ray had complained in a legal challenge that his Islamic spiritual adviser was not allowed to be present when he was put to death, while Christian chaplains are.

Ray, 42, was due to die by lethal injection over the murder of a teenager more than two decades ago.

The day before he was due to be put to death, the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay for Ray.

But the US Supreme Court cleared the way for his execution to go ahead on Thursday evening and Ray was pronounced dead at 10.12pm on Thursday of a lethal injection at the state prison in Atmore.

It was Alabama’s first execution of the year.

Ray was sentenced to death for the 1995 rape and murder of 15-year-old Tiffany Harville, who disappeared from her home on July 15, 1995. Her decomposing body was found one month later in a cotton field.

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Ray was convicted in 1999 after another man, Marcus Owden, confessed to his role in the crime and implicated Ray.

Owden told police that they had picked the girl up for a night out on the town and then raped her. Owden said that Ray cut the girl’s throat. Owden pleaded guilty to murder, testified against Ray and is serving a life sentence without parole.