Pentagon: ‘The execution of the Fort Hood killer will be streamed live.’ UN: ‘It is torture’
The US Department of Defence has confirmed the announcement made by the Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth
The execution by firing squad of Nidal Hasan, the perpetrator of the 2009 massacre at the Fort Hood military base, in which 13 people were killed and a further 32 were injured, will be streamed live so that the public can watch it. This has been reported by the American media, citing a Pentagon official. “It will be streamed live; further details will follow,” he said. The firing squad is due to carry out the execution on 3 December against the former US Army major, according to the media. The United States has not carried out a public execution for 90 years.
The announcement followed earlier statements by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who had expressed his intention to make the execution public. “He will face a firing squad made up of soldiers. ‘As it should be,’ said Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in an interview with the far-right political activist Jack Posobiec. ‘We will ensure that people can see it. That it is public. Because people need to understand that there are serious consequences for this sort of action.’ The execution is scheduled for 3 December.
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump approved the execution by firing squad of Hasan, a former US Army psychiatrist who, in 2009, opened fire on dozens of people at the Soldier Readiness Processing Centre at Fort Hood, Texas. If Hasan’s execution were to go ahead, it would be the first US military execution since 13 April 1961, when Private John A. Bennett was hanged after being convicted of rape and attempted murder; according to the Death Penalty Information Centre, a non-profit organisation that monitors capital punishment.
The UN has weighed in on the matter. The decision by the US authorities to live-stream the execution of Nidal Hasan, who was convicted of murder, would amount to torture. “Live-streaming an execution is equivalent to a public execution and would violate the absolute prohibition on torture,” stated the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in a message sent to AFP
