Pentagon to Livestream First Military Firing Squad Execution Since 1945

The Pentagon plans to livestream the December 3 firing squad execution of convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, drawing condemnation from the United Nations and from lawmakers in both US parties, according to AFP and CNN.

A Pentagon official said the execution “will be livestreamed.” Hasan is set to be executed at 1 p.m. local time at Fort Hood in Texas, where he killed 13 people in 2009. It would be the first US military firing squad execution since 1945.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the aim is to make the execution public. “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.”

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights told AFP that livestreaming an execution “is tantamount to a public execution and would breach the absolute prohibition of torture.”

Republican Senator Thom Tillis said Hasan should be put to death but called the livestream “beyond disgusting.” Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said it “makes a mockery of our legal system.”

CNN reported that the livestream could violate Army regulations, which bar minors from watching executions. The Army’s provost marshal general can waive provisions of the regulation if the waiver does not violate the law or a higher binding regulation.

Hasan, a former Army major, was sentenced to death by a military jury in 2013.