The man who fatally shot 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009 is set to be executed, and the nature of his planned execution is quite unusual. President Trump has authorized the convicted murderer to be killed by firing squad, and now the Pentagon says the execution will be livestreamed after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said it would be public, an announcement that has drawn horror and condemnation.
Fort Hood shooter’s firing squad execution to be livestreamed
The Trump administration’s plans to carry out the death sentence against Fort Hood mass shooter Nidal Hasan are growing increasingly extreme. President Trump recently announced that Hasan, a former Army major who worked as a military psychiatrist prior to conducting the 2009 mass shooting, would be executed by firing squad, which would be the first military execution by firing squad since World War II. Trump recently told a cheering campaign crowd in Texas, “We recently announced that we are going to deliver FINAL justice to an evil killer, the Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan.” Trump also tried to blame President Obama for not stopping the attack before telling the crowd that Hasan is “getting the death penalty by firing squad.”
Now, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has announced that Hasan’s execution will be public, and the Pentagon has since confirmed that it will be livestreamed. Appearing on the right-wing Real America’s Voice streaming channel, Hegseth said the decision of executing Hasan by firing squad was a “no brainer.” He also justified the decision, saying, “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 and the host then reiterated the date of the execution in the style of announcers reminding viewers of an upcoming sporting event. “We’ll see him on December 3,” Hegseth said, with the host following up, “December 3, Fort Hood.” If the execution goes forward, it would be the first public execution in the U.S. in nearly a century and the first ever to be livestreamed, NPR reported. Trump has since backed the plan. Asked about the livestream by reporters Friday, he said, “Absolutely, I approved,” according to C-SPAN.
Global and domestic condemnation of public execution plan
Reaction to these announcements has been intense, with many condemning the spectacle that the Trump administration is making out of the execution. Global outrage has come from a number of sources, with the United Nations human rights office saying that broadcasting an execution would “breach the absolute prohibition of torture” and British Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson, who is also the chair of the Labour Party, calling the idea “rather disturbing.” A number of voices within the United States have also objected. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Virginia) posted a list of countries that carry out public executions, including Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan, ISIS and other terrorist groups. “This is un-American. Call it off.”
“There is no doubt [Hasan] deserves to die. His crimes were demonic and unforgivable—death by firing squad is borderline too merciful,” posted Joe Kent, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center. “But broadcasting his execution is beneath the dignity & decency of our nation.”
Independent journalist Terry Moran opined, “A government-produced death spectacle debases us as a nation.” He also warned that public execution “becomes a martyrdom spectacle for terrorists.”
The upcoming execution of Hasan comes as the United States debates the death penalty, an issue that has been brought back to public consciousness by the botched execution of Christa Pike. It also fuels discussion of the politics and justice of the death penalty at the federal level. Shortly before leaving office, President Biden commuted the sentences of federal prisoners on death row to life without the possibility of parole, with the exceptions of Emmanuel AME Church shooter Dylann Roof, Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tree of Life Synagogue shooter Robert Bowers. Hasan, meanwhile, is one of only four people currently on military death row.
It is unclear if Hasan will attempt to file an appeal to his coming execution date or the manner in which he is set to die. But whether or not he tries to stop or delay his sentence, the unusual method and unprecedented broadcasting decision for Hasan’s execution have set off a firestorm of controversy.