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

CNN — 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 on death row.

“We are working on a resolution,” the office of Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall told CNN. CNN has reached out to the Alabama Department of Corrections for comment on the lawsuit.