Source: BBC
The US Department of Defense plans to livestream the execution of former Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people in a shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced.
A Pentagon official confirmed that the execution would be broadcast live, although authorities have not disclosed where viewers would be able to watch. Hegseth said the public should be able to witness the execution and understand the consequences of such crimes.
The execution is scheduled for December 3 at Fort Hood, according to the US Army secretary. If carried out, it would be the first military execution by firing squad since January 1945 and the first execution by the US military in more than 60 years.
Hasan, a former major who served as an Army psychiatrist, admitted during his 2013 court-martial that he was responsible for the November 5, 2009, shooting. He opened fire inside a crowded medical building where soldiers preparing for deployment were waiting for medical examinations and vaccinations. The attack was the deadliest non-combat shooting at a US military installation.
During his trial, Hasan said he believed he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan. He also apologised for what he described as his mistakes.
The Pentagon announced earlier this week that Hegseth had recommended the execution and President Donald Trump had approved it. Military law requires presidential approval for a military execution, along with appellate review and a final determination that the sentence can legally be carried out.
However, Hasan's appeals process has not concluded. John Mills, a lawyer who works with death row inmates, told the BBC that Hasan was likely to challenge his conviction and sentence in federal court, potentially delaying the execution for years. Mills said he would be surprised if the execution proceeded on the scheduled date.
Mills also questioned the administration's decision to broadcast the execution, describing the proposal as unprecedented in the modern era and legally uncertain. He argued that the plan appeared intended to attract attention rather than deliver justice.
Eugene R. Fidell, a visiting lecturer at Yale Law School, criticised the proposal as a deeply troubling step. He told the BBC that further legal proceedings could continue long beyond Trump's current presidential term.
Deborah Denno, a Fordham University law professor who has studied execution methods in the United States, said no execution in the country had previously been livestreamed. She argued that a broadcast could expose viewers to the realities of capital punishment in a way that conventional reporting does not.
The plan also faces practical obstacles. Major social media companies, including Meta, YouTube, TikTok and X, restrict or prohibit content depicting graphic violence and death. Meta explicitly bans livestreams of capital punishment, while TikTok prohibits extremely graphic and disturbing material. X's rules allow for the removal of footage depicting a person's death under certain circumstances.
It remains unclear which platform, if any, would carry the broadcast. The BBC has contacted the companies for comment.
Public executions are rare internationally. Amnesty International recorded more than 2,700 executions across 17 countries in 2025, with only two countries known to have carried out executions in public. The organisation reported 11 public executions in Iran and six in Afghanistan.
The United States has a long history of capital punishment, although public support for the death penalty has declined. Trump has consistently supported its use. During his first presidential term, the federal government carried out 13 executions in its final year after a 17-year period without federal executions.
After returning to office in January 2025, Trump overturned former President Joe Biden's moratorium on federal executions and signed an executive order intended to reinstate the death penalty and protect public safety.
Trump has also previously called for executions in high-profile cases. In 1989, he purchased newspaper advertisements demanding the death penalty for five Black and Latino teenagers convicted in the Central Park jogger case. All five were later exonerated.
The last execution by the US military took place in 1961, when an Army private was hanged after being convicted of raping an 11-year-old Austrian girl. The execution was authorised by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and proceeded despite the victim's family appealing to his successor, John F. Kennedy, for clemency.
The last US military execution by firing squad was carried out in January 1945, when Army private Eddie Slovik was shot for desertion during World War Two.
