Alabama death row inmate pleads with state to not autopsy his body after execution, citing his Muslim faith

An Alabama death row inmate who is set to be executed by lethal injection next week has asked the state to forgo an autopsy of his body after he is put to death, saying it would violate his religious beliefs as a practicing Muslim, a lawsuit says.

An Alabama death row inmate who is set to be executed by lethal injection next week has asked the state to forgo an autopsy of his body after he is put to death, saying it would violate his religious beliefs as a practicing Muslim, a lawsuit says. Keith Gavin, who is set to be executed next Thursday or Friday, says his body will be subjected to an “invasive autopsy” that would violate his “sincerely held religious beliefs,” as well as Alabama state law, according to the complaint filed by his attorneys last month. Among those named as defendants in the lawsuit are Escambia County District Attorney Steve Billy, Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm and Terry Raybon, warden of the William C. Holman Correctional Facility where Gavin is incarcerated on death row. The complaint is seeking a judicial order preventing the defendants from performing the autopsy and requiring them “to respect Mr. Gavin’s constitutional rights and sincerely held religious beliefs.” Gavin is a devout Muslim, the complaint says, and his religion “teaches that the human body is a sacred temple, which must be kept whole.” An autopsy, he says, would desecrate his body and “violate the sanctity of keeping his human body intact” along with his right to the free exercise of his religion. The lawsuit claims Gavin’s attorneys have repeatedly attempted to reach state officials in charge of the autopsy process regarding his request for his “earthly remains to be handled consistent with his faith,” but have received no response.