US to livestream Nidal Hasan's firing squad execution
The Pentagon plans to livestream the December 3 execution of Nidal Hasan, a former US Army psychiatrist sentenced to death for killing 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009.
A controversial first for the US
The execution is scheduled to take place at Fort Hood, the Texas military base where Hasan opened fire in a medical facility in November 2009. If carried out as planned, it would be the first US military firing squad execution since 1945 and the first military execution of any kind since 1961.
A Pentagon official confirmed the livestream to Reuters, saying, “It will be livestreamed. Details will follow.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also confirmed the plan in a post on X.
Hegseth said the date, time and location were chosen to approximate the circumstances of the 2009 shooting. The execution is scheduled for a Thursday at 1 p.m. local time, matching the approximate day and time of the attack.
“We'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public. Because people need to understand that ... there's serious consequences for these types of things,” Hegseth said.
Asked whether Hasan had made any final requests, Hegseth replied, “Don't care. We'll see him on December 3.”
Hasan was sentenced to death in 2013
Hasan, now 56, was sentenced to death by a military jury in August 2013 after being found guilty of 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder.
He killed 13 people and wounded more than 30 others in the November 2009 shooting, which took place weeks before he was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan. Police shot Hasan during his arrest, leaving him partially paralysed and dependent on a wheelchair.
Under US military law, a president must approve an execution by firing squad. President Donald Trump approved the method on Hegseth's recommendation, the Pentagon said.
The precedent of broadcasting an execution
The planned livestream is unprecedented in the United States. Media organisations have previously sought permission to televise executions, but courts have blocked such requests.
The last legally sanctioned public execution in the United States took place in 1936, when thousands of people watched the hanging of a young Black man convicted of raping a white woman.
The plan has raised questions about the public broadcasting of state executions. Legal experts cited by Reuters have questioned the rationale for making the event public, while noting that Hasan could seek to challenge the plan in federal court.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
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