The US military plans to livestream the scheduled execution of Nidal Hasan, the former Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009, in what could become an unprecedented broadcast of a US execution.
The Pentagon said the execution is scheduled for December 3 at Fort Hood, where Hasan opened fire inside a medical facility. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the livestream plans, saying the public should be able to witness the execution and understand the consequences of such crimes.
Hasan, 56, is expected to become the first person executed by a US military firing squad since 1945. A military jury sentenced him to death in August 2013 after finding him guilty of 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder.
Hasan was preparing for deployment to Afghanistan at the time of the shooting. He was left partially paralysed and confined to a wheelchair after police shot him during his arrest.
President Donald Trump approved the firing squad execution following a recommendation from Hegseth, according to the Pentagon. The White House has not clarified whether Trump supports broadcasting the execution.
The planned livestream has raised questions among legal experts because US executions have not previously been televised or livestreamed, as far as experts cited by Reuters were aware. Courts have previously blocked media attempts to televise executions.
Military law expert Eugene Fidell described the proposal as highly unusual, while military justice historian Jonathan Lurie questioned the purpose of making the execution public.
The announcement comes amid renewed debate over capital punishment in the United States following a failed lethal injection attempt involving Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike last week. Her lawyers said she survived the procedure and remained seriously ill in hospital.
The Trump administration has also expanded the methods permitted for federal executions, including firing squads, electrocution and gas asphyxiation, partly because of difficulties obtaining drugs used in lethal injections.
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