Pentagon to livestream execution

The US military will livestream the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, on December three at Fort Hood in Texas, the Pentagon confirmed.

Hasan killed thirteen at Fort Hood

Hasan opened fire with a laser-sighted handgun in a medical facility at Fort Hood in two thousand nine, killing thirteen people. He was shot by police during arrest and left partially paralyzed.

First military execution since nineteen forty-five

Hasan will become the first person executed by firing squad by the US military since nineteen forty-five.A military jury sentenced him to death in August two thousand thirteen after finding him guilty of forty-five counts.

Trump approved the execution

Under US military law, a US president must approve an execution by firing squad. President Donald Trump approved it on the recommendation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday.

Hegseth calls livestream a no-brainer

Hegseth said executing Hasan by firing squad at Fort Hood on a Thursday at one pm, matching the time and location of the two thousand nine shooting, was a no-brainer and should be 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.”

No country known to televise executions

Media have sought to televise US executions in the past but were blocked by courts. No other country is known to televise or livestream a legal execution, according to experts.

Legal experts question the precedent

Eugene Fidell, a military law expert at Yale Law School, called livestreaming the execution extremely strange and said it would be unprecedented. The Supreme Court has never addressed whether such a broadcast is constitutional.

“It would be extremely, extremely strange to livestream the event.”

Execution timing mirrors the crime

Hegseth said the execution on December three at one pm on a Thursday at Fort Hood mirrors the approximate time, day and location of Hasan's two thousand nine shooting that killed thirteen people.