The Pentagon has confirmed that the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, the former Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009, will be livestreamed. Hasan is scheduled to die by firing squad on 3 December. It would be the first US military execution since 1961, when Private John Bennett was hanged, and the first by firing squad since World War II. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in an interview that "we'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public," adding that people need to understand there are "serious consequences for these types of things." A senior Pentagon official later said details would follow. Asked about any final request from Hasan, Hegseth replied: "Don't care. We'll see him on December 3." President Donald Trump approved the execution, as military law requires for this method.
Hasan opened fire on 5 November 2009 in a medical building at Fort Fort Hood, a major Army base in Texas, where soldiers were awaiting clearance for deployment. Thirteen people were killed and 32 wounded. He shouted "Allahu akbar" and later said he had "switched sides" to stop soldiers from going to Afghanistan. A military jury sentenced him to death in 2013. He is paralysed from the waist down after being shot by police and is held at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. The Supreme Court declined to review his case in March 2025.
The livestream plan has drawn sharp criticism. The UN human rights office said broadcasting an execution is tantamount to a public execution and would breach the absolute prohibition of torture, noting it had made similar statements about Afghanistan and Iran. Catholic bishops and other clergy objected, as did Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, who called it "disgusting," and Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who said public executions are what "oppressive dictators" do. Vice President JD Vance said he would not watch and expressed some doubt that a livestream would happen.
Even some of those closest to the case are divided. Alonzo Lunsford, a survivor shot seven times, told the BBC that a firing squad is a fitting method and that he plans to attend, but he said the event is "not something you should view for entertainment purposes." He said survivors and victims' families should be able to watch.
Legal experts say the path to blocking the broadcast is narrow. Army rules do not address livestreaming, and Villanova law professor Brenner Fissell said that apart from Hasan, it is unclear who would have standing to sue. He raised the possibility that a regulation barring anyone under 18 from witnessing an execution could be tested, though Yale's Eugene Fidell called such a case unlikely to succeed. Hasan could file a habeas corpus petition, a challenge to the lawfulness of detention, in civilian court, which could delay the execution significantly. He has not indicated whether he will.
The case comes as US capital punishment faces scrutiny after a failed lethal injection of Tennessee inmate Christa Pike. Some experts see firing squads as a quicker alternative amid drug shortages. Fordham's Deborah Denno suggested a broadcast could bring transparency, while Elisabeth Semel of UC Berkeley questioned the government's motives. The last public execution in the US took place in 1936 in Kentucky.