Alabama won’t conduct an autopsy on a death row inmate after his lethal-injection execution next week. The inmate had sued the state to block the post-execution autopsy because of his religious beliefs as a Muslim.

“No autopsy will be performed on Keith Edmund Gavin,” according to a statement Friday afternoon from the Alabama Department of Corrections to reporters. “His remains will be picked up by the attending funeral home.”

Gavin, 64, who describes himself as a devout Muslim, does not plan any further appeals in his case before the July 18 execution at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. But in June he filed a lawsuit asking the state to forego the usual post-execution autopsy due to his religious beliefs. The lawsuit was filed after his attorneys said they couldn’t reach a resolution with the state.

“His religion teaches that the human body is a sacred temple, which must be kept whole,” the lawsuit states. “As a result, Mr. Gavin sincerely believes that an autopsy would desecrate his body and violate the sanctity of keeping his human body intact. Based on his faith, Mr. Gavin is fiercely opposed to an autopsy being performed on his body after his execution.”

Gavin’s request had made national news.

On Thursday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which describes itself as the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, issued a statement urging Alabama officials to accept Gavin’s request to not conduct an autopsy.

Gavin was sentenced to death for the March 1998 murder of William Clayton Jr. in Cherokee County. He was on parole for murder from Illinois when he was arrested in the shooting death of Clayton, a courier service driver who had parked his van to use an ATM machine in downtown Centre. Clayton was finished with deliveries for the day and was stopping at Regions Bank to get money to take his wife to dinner.

Records stated that Gavin shot Clayton during an attempted robbery, pushed him into the passenger’s seat, and drove off in the courier van. With an investigator from the district attorney’s office in close pursuit, Gavin stopped the van, got out, shot at the investigator, and fled.

Gavin was soon apprehended, and Clayton was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Two eyewitnesses positively identified Gavin as the shooter, including his cousin, who was an employee of the Illinois Department of Corrections. The cousin testified about trips he and Gavin had made to Centre and on that day saw Gavin fire shots at the driver of the van. Gavin also fired shots at an investigator as he fled, according to testimony.