A Muslim death row inmate who sued the state will not have an autopsy performed because the process of his execution by lethal injection next week will go against his religious convictions.
The lawsuit filed by Keith Gavin’s attorneys last month claimed that a “invasive autopsy” violated both state law in Alabama and his “sincerely held religious beliefs.” Gavin is scheduled to be killed either Thursday or Friday of next week.
The lawsuit stated that Gavin is a devoted follower of Islam, which “teaches that the human body is a sacred temple, which must be kept whole.” He contended that having an autopsy would violate his right to the free exercise of his fundamental rights and defile his body, violating the sanctity of keeping his human body intact.
Kelly Windham Betts, a spokesman for the Alabama Department of Corrections, on Friday stated that, “No autopsy will be performed on Keith Edmund Gavin. His remains will be picked up by the attending funeral home.”
The lawsuit cited Steve Billy, the district attorney for Escambia County, Terry Raybon, the warden of the William C. Holman Correctional Facility, where Gavin is on death row, and Commissioner John Hamm of the Alabama Department of Corrections.
The defendants were ordered “to respect Mr. Gavin’s constitutional rights and sincerely held religious beliefs” and were to be barred from conducting the autopsy, according to the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, Gavin’s lawyers had made multiple attempts to get in touch with state representatives overseeing the autopsy procedure to discuss his desire for his “earthly remains to be handled consistent with his faith,” but they had not received a response.
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The lawsuit said that the defendants either refused to talk with Gavin’s attorneys or would not return calls or emails following the execution date Gavin’s April 25 letter to the governor of Alabama, Kay Ivey.
Any death that occurs in a state prison is subject to an investigation by a medical examiner, and in the event that the death is deemed to be “unlawful, suspicious, or unnatural,” state authorities are authorized to request a postmortem autopsy.
According to the lawsuit, “This law is intended to establish with certainty the cause of death in any such event. After Mr. Gavin’s execution, there will be no question as to who or what caused Mr. Gavin’s death. The State will execute him by lethal injection.
The largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group in the nation, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, urged Alabama officials to grant Gavin’s request on Thursday.
“In Islamic beliefs, autopsies are generally viewed as impermissible mutilation of the deceased but are permissible in cases of necessity and only to the extent required,” CAIR stated.
“The religious freedom guaranteed to every American in our founding documents does not cease to apply behind bars,” CAIR Research and Advocacy Director Corey Saylor stated. “We urge Alabama state officials to accept Mr. Gavin’s request that his body not be autopsied after execution.”
