A national Muslim civil rights group on Thursday urged Alabama officials to abide by Alabama Death Row inmate Keith Edmund Gavin’s wish that an autopsy not be performed on his body after next week’s lethal-injection execution of him for the 1998 murder of a courier driver.

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.

An official with the Alabama Attorney General’s Office said earlier this week that they were working on a resolution.

Efforts to reach Gavin’s attorneys have been unsuccessful.

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

“The religious freedom guaranteed to every American in our founding documents does not cease to apply behind bars. We urge Alabama state officials to accept Mr. Gavin’s request that his body not be autopsied after execution,” said CAIR Research and Advocacy Director Corey Saylor.

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, according to the statement.

“There appears to be no reason an autopsy is necessary in this case,”said Saylor.

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.