Pentagon plan to livestream Fort Hood shooter's execution draws fierce backlash
US defense secretary Pete Hegseth said former army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan will be executed by firing squad on 3 December, with the event livestreamed. Democrats, Republicans and human rights groups have sharply criticised the plan.
The US Defense Department, known as the Pentagon, plans to livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan, a former army psychiatrist who killed 13 people at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009. The plan has drawn fierce criticism from both major political parties. If carried out, it would be the first US military execution in more than 60 years.
What Hegseth said
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth told the network Real America’s Voice that a firing squad of soldiers will carry out the sentence at Fort Hood on Thursday, 3 December, at 1pm. A defense department official later confirmed the execution will be livestreamed. Hegseth said the event would be public so that people understand there are serious consequences for such crimes.
Criticism from both sides
Democratic senator Chris Murphy told CNN the plan resembled ISIS executions and called public execution medieval. Republican senator Thom Tillis said public executions are what oppressive dictatorships such as Iran and Afghanistan carry out, and that it should not happen in America. Democratic senator Patty Murray urged the Pentagon to revoke the decision immediately, while Democratic representative Betty McCollum noted that the Army has not used a firing squad since World War II and that the US has not held a public execution since 1936. Human rights groups also objected, and New Zealand’s national censor said it would be unable to block the livestream.
Background
Hasan opened fire at a medical processing center on the Texas base on 5 November 2009, killing 13 people and wounding dozens more. A military jury sentenced him to death in 2013, and he has been held at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas since then. He exhausted his appeals last year, which allowed President Donald Trump to approve the sentence this week on Hegseth’s recommendation.
