UN human rights chief unleashes scathing attack after Christa Pike's botched execution

UN human rights chief unleashes scathing attack after Christa Pike's botched execution Christa Pike remains unresponsive but not in a coma following her botched execution. The UN human rights chief called on authorities in Tennessee not to pursue any further attempts to execute her The UN human rights chief and nine independent rights experts on Thursday called on authorities in Tennessee not to pursue any further attempts to execute Christa Pike, saying her case highlights multiple concerns surrounding the death penalty. Convicted killer Christa Pike remains unresponsive but not in a coma following her botched execution, in which her lawyer claims she was pierced with a needle seven times. Pike, 50, is still alive and in a critical condition, receiving life-saving medical treatment after surviving two full doses of pentobarbital, a lethal drug, during the failed execution attempt on Wednesday evening. The Tennessee Department of Correction said it “followed every step of the state’s lawful, established execution protocol”, adding that Pike was subsequently taken to an “off-site medical facility” after the horrifying execution attempt. Pike had been on death row for the brutal murder of Colleen Slemmer in January 1995. Slemmer was killed at age 19, after being lured into an isolated area on the University of Tennessee agricultural campus. Pike was convicted alongside her boyfriend in 1996, and the court heard that there was a pentagram carved into Slemmer's chest and Pike kept a bit of her skull as a souvenir. Pike was set to become the first woman to be executed in the US state in 200 years. In what were meant to be her planned final words, Pike said: “I’m going to leave this world the way I spent most of my life – and that is with love.” Lawyer Randy Spivey said on Thursday: "We don't have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health at the moment." He added: "But we do know that she is alive right now." Her lawyers claim that the failed execution amounted to "torture", and they called for her death sentence to be commuted. Spivey said: “I’m haunted by last night. What I saw last night is not something that should ever, ever happen again.” Slemmer's mother May Martinez, who was among those watching the execution, told NBC News the botched attempt "was a mess". The United Nations Human Rights have always been against the death penalty and say Christa Pike's case lays bare multiple reasons why the death penalty should be abolished. Mr Türk calls on the state authorities not to pursue any further attempt to execute Pike. He said: "The prolonged suffering – physical and mental – arising from multiple failed execution attempts is abhorrent and cruel." Adding: “the death penalty has no place in any society.”