The US military plans to livestream the firing squad execution of former Army major Nidal Hasan, who was convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009.
Hasan is due to be executed at Fort Hood at 1pm on December 3, according to a Pentagon official. The decision would make the punishment viewable by the general public, an exceptionally rare step in recent US history.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the execution would be carried out by soldiers and made public so people could see the consequences of such crimes.
“He’s gonna get a firing squad of soldiers, as it should be,” Mr Hegseth said. “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.”
The Trump administration approved the plan earlier this week. Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, said the use of an Army firing squad had been recommended by Mr Hegseth and approved by President Trump.
Hasan’s military death sentence
Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, was convicted at a court martial of murdering 13 people and injuring more than 30. He acknowledged during the trial that he was responsible for the shooting, saying he had opened fire on fellow Army personnel to protect Islamic insurgents from US forces.
He was sentenced to death after choosing to represent himself at trial. His case involved clashes with court-appointed standby lawyers, who raised concerns that he was deliberately seeking the death penalty.
Hasan later asked the US Supreme Court to review his case, arguing that a judge had breached his right to a public trial by clearing the courtroom before discussing some of his disputes with the lawyers. The court declined to hear the case last year.
The execution would be the military’s first of an American service member since 1961, when a soldier was hanged for raping and attempting to murder an 11-year-old girl. It would also represent a rare use of a firing squad by the US military.
In civilian cases, South Carolina used firing squads three times last year, marking the first such executions in the country since 2010. The federal government generally uses lethal injection, although the Justice Department has said other methods, including firing squads and electrocution, should be considered.
