The Pentagon has announced that it will livestream the firing squad execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, the former Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009.
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it → announce → 2009
The execution is scheduled for December 3 at the Texas military base where Hasan carried out the shooting.
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Hasan → schedule → shooting
A Pentagon official confirmed the livestream to Reuters on Thursday, saying, “It will be livestreamed.
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It → confirm → Thursday
Details will follow.”
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Details → follow → ?
Defence secretary Pete Hegseth also confirmed the plan in a post on X, a day after saying the execution would be “public”.
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execution → confirm → X
Hasan is set to become the first person executed by a US military firing squad since 1945.
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Hasan → set → 1945
The Army announced earlier this week that the execution would take place at Fort Hood, where Hasan opened fire in a medical facility on November 5, 2009, killing 13 people and injuring 32 others.
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Hasan → announce → others
Hegseth, who championed the decision to execute Hasan by firing squad, said the public should be able to watch the execution because people needed to understand that such crimes carried “serious consequences”.
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crimes → champion → consequences
He told the conservative programme Human Events Daily that scheduling the execution at Fort Hood on a Thursday at 1 pm, around the time and day of the original shooting, was a “no-brainer”.
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scheduling → tell → shooting
Asked whether Hasan had made any final requests, Hegseth said, “Don’t care.
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Hegseth → ask → requests
We’ll see him on December 3.”
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We → see → December
The decision has raised questions about the legal and ethical implications of broadcasting an execution, particularly as the US faces renewed scrutiny over capital punishment following a botched lethal injection in Tennessee last week.
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US → raise → Tennessee
Media organisations have sought to televise US executions in the past but have been blocked by courts.
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organisations → seek → courts
Reuters reported that experts were unaware of any other country currently televising or livestreaming a legally sanctioned execution.
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experts → report → execution
Public executions have become rare worldwide, although Iran and Taliban-run Afghanistan have conducted them in recent years.
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Iran → become → years
The last legally sanctioned public execution in the US took place in 1936, when thousands watched the hanging of a Black man convicted of raping a white woman, according to death penalty experts cited by Reuters.
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thousands → sanction → Reuters
Experts question the need for a public execution
Legal experts have raised concerns about the purpose of livestreaming Hasan’s execution and whether it could face a legal challenge.
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it → question → challenge
Eugene Fidell, a military law expert and visiting lecturer at Yale Law School, told the Associated Press that Hasan could seek to delay the execution by filing a habeas petition in civilian court, challenging the legality of his detention.
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Hasan → visit → detention
Fidell also told Reuters that livestreaming an execution would be “extremely, extremely strange” and that Hasan would need to sue in federal court if he wanted to block the public broadcast.
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he → tell → broadcast
The US Supreme Court has never directly addressed the question of livestreaming an execution, Fidell told Reuters, leaving open questions about how courts might approach such a challenge.
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courts → address → challenge
Elisabeth Semel, co-director of the Death Penalty Clinic at UC Berkeley Law, told the Associated Press that the decision raised questions about the condemned prisoner’s dignity, who would be allowed to view the broadcast and what the administration hoped to achieve through the spectacle.
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administration → tell → spectacle
“This is a president who’s about spectacle and that’s, I think, precisely the message that he intends to deliver,” Semel said, referring to president Donald Trump.
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Semel → ’ → Trump
Other experts said the debate over livestreaming came at a time when states were struggling to carry out lethal injections because of difficulties obtaining drugs and finding medical professionals willing to participate in executions.
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states → say → executions
Trump approves execution amid scrutiny of death penalty
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Trump → approve → penalty
Under US military law, the president must approve an execution by firing squad.
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president → approve → squad
Trump authorised Hasan’s execution on Hegseth’s recommendation, the Pentagon said earlier this week.
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Pentagon → authorise → recommendation
The White House referred questions about the livestream to the Pentagon and did not say whether Trump supported broadcasting it.
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Trump → refer → it
A military jury sentenced Hasan to death in August 2013 after finding him guilty of 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder.
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him → sentence → murder
He was 39 at the time of the attack and was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan weeks later.
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He → schedule → Afghanistan
He was shot by law enforcement during his arrest, leaving him partially paralysed and confined to a wheelchair.
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He → shoot → wheelchair
Hasan represented himself at trial after dismissing his lawyers, acknowledged that he was the gunman and did little to mount a defence.
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he → represent → defence
He said he had acted to prevent soldiers from going to Afghanistan and killing fellow Muslims, but a military judge barred him from presenting that argument as a defence.
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judge → say → defence
It remains unclear whether Hasan will challenge the execution.
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Hasan → remain → execution
The case has also brought renewed attention to the methods used to carry out the death penalty in the US.
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case → bring → US
At least five states permit firing squads, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
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states → permit → Center
South Carolina carried out the first firing squad execution in the US in 15 years in 2025.
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Carolina → carry → 2025
The Trump administration has also expanded the methods permitted for federal executions to include firing squads, electrocution and gas asphyxiation, partly because of difficulties obtaining lethal-injection drugs.
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administration → expand → drugs
The Aporia
