WorldPosted at: Oct 9 2026 6:29PM


US plans to livestream execution of death row convict – former Army major Nidal Hasan responsible for 2009 Fort Hood shooting

Washington, Oct 9 (UNI) The US plans to livestream the execution of former Army major Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 unarmed soldiers at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said.
A Defense Department official told the BBC that the execution, scheduled for December 3, would be broadcast online. If carried out, it would be the first military execution in more than 60 years and the first public execution in the US in almost a century.
Hegseth said Hasan would face a firing squad of soldiers, adding that the punishment was appropriate for his crime.
Asked whether Hasan had made any final requests or contacted President Donald Trump, Hegseth told conservative broadcaster Real America's Voice "Don't care. We'll see him on December 3rd."
The Pentagon said on Monday that Trump had approved Hegseth's recommendation. The BBC has asked the White House whether the president supports livestreaming the execution.
The proposal has drawn criticism from human rights officials and lawmakers. The UN human rights office said broadcasting the execution would be "tantamount to a public execution" and would breach the absolute prohibition of torture.
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy described the idea as "disgusting", comparing it to executions carried out by the Islamic State group. John Mills, a lawyer who works with death-row inmates, said livestreaming an execution would be "unprecedented in the modern era" and raise difficult legal questions.
"People need to understand that there's serious consequences for these types of things," Hegseth said.
Hasan, an Army psychiatrist from Virginia, admitted killing 13 unarmed soldiers in a crowded medical building at Fort Hood. During his 2013 court martial, he said he believed he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan. He also apologised for "any mistakes".
Alonzo Lunsford, a former Army sergeant who was shot seven times during the attack, said he supported execution by firing squad as a punishment "befitting" the crime. However, he questioned whether the public should have unrestricted access to the broadcast, citing concerns about its impact on younger viewers.
Lunsford said survivors and the families of those killed should have the opportunity to witness the execution. He plans to attend and said he wants Hasan to look him in the eyes before the shots are fired. "I want him to know he failed. I'm still here," he said.
Mills said Hasan's appeals process was not complete and that he was likely to seek a review of his conviction and sentence in federal court, which could halt the execution.
Military executions require presidential approval, appellate review and a final determination that the sentence can legally proceed. Mills said he would be surprised if the execution went ahead as scheduled.
"Seeking to make it livestreamed, a firing squad execution, is little more than attention-seeking by the Trump administration and is unlikely to occur, much less deliver any semblance of justice," he said.
Fordham University law professor Deborah Denno, who has studied execution methods in the US, said no execution in the country had previously been livestreamed. She said a broadcast would bring an unprecedented level of public scrutiny to the process.
Denno said the authorities would also need to consider safeguards, including whether the stream would be restricted by age. Under Army Regulation 190-55, people under 18 cannot witness military executions.
The BBC has asked the Pentagon and the US Army whether the restrictions would be waived and what measures would be used to prevent children from watching.
Some US states require journalists or other witnesses to attend executions, while certain rules allow the condemned person to invite witnesses. However, public livestreaming would mark a significant departure from existing practice.
Amnesty International recorded more than 2,700 executions across 17 countries last year, but only Iran and Afghanistan were reported to have carried out public executions. The organisation documented 11 public executions in Iran in 2025 and six in Afghanistan.
Amnesty's data listed China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the US among the countries with the highest numbers of executions last year, although the total for China is not publicly known. Trump overturned former president Joe Biden's moratorium on federal executions after returning to the White House.
A Pew Research survey conducted in July found that 66% of Americans supported the death penalty for murder, up six percentage points over five years.
The last military execution in the US took place in 1961, when an Army private was hanged after being convicted of raping an 11-year-old Austrian girl. The execution was authorised by President Dwight D Eisenhower and went ahead despite the victim's family seeking clemency from his successor, John F Kennedy.
The last US military execution by firing squad took place in January 1945, when Army private Eddie Slovik was shot for desertion during WWII.
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