AP reports that a Muslim inmate on death row in Alabama has filed suit challenging the practice of only allowing a correctional officer and the Christian prison chaplain to be inside the death chamber where lethal executions are carried out. Dominique Ray is scheduled to be executed Feb. 7. He is seeking a stay while he litigates his right to have a Muslim imam stand in the execution chamber with him. Current practice only allows him to consult with his own spiritual adviser before the execution, with that adviser witnessing the execution from an adjoining room. Ray argues that the required presence of the prison chaplain in the execution chamber only serves the impermissible purpose of safeguarding the soul of the condemned inmate in accord with the Christian belief system.
