Donald Trump’s administration has announced that the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan by firing squad will be livestreamed, an unprecedented broadcast for a state-sanctioned killing by one of the world’s most powerful democracies.
asserted
execution → announce → democracies
In an interview with right-wing activist Jack Posobiec on Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the execution of Hasan, who was convicted of killing 13 people and injuring 32 others at the Fort Hood military base in 2009, was a “no brainer.”
asserted
who → say → 2009
“He’s gonna get a firing squad of soldiers, as it should be,” Hegseth said.
asserted
Hegseth → go → soldiers
“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.”
asserted
people → make → things
A Pentagon official clarified to The Independent that the event will be livestreamed, and details will follow.
asserted
details → clarify → Independent
Hasan is scheduled to be killed December 3, marking the U.S. military’s first execution by firing squad since 1945, part of a renewed push by the president to restart federal executions and turn to methods such as firing squads as well as nitrogen gas and electrocution to carry out sentences quicker.
asserted
Hasan → schedule → sentences
“Judgment day for Hasan has finally come,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell wrote on X earlier this week following Trump’s approval of the killing.
asserted
Parnell → come → killing
Asked on Thursday whether Hasan made any final requests or reached out to the Trump administration, Hegseth said: “Don’t care.”
asserted
Hegseth → ask → administration
“We’ll see him on December 3,” he said.
asserted
he → see → December
Hasan, Hasan, an Army psychiatrist who held the rank of major, was convicted by a military jury on 45 counts of murder and sentenced to death in 2013.
Hasan, who was scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan at the end of 2009, admitted responsibility for the shooting and said he believed was on the wrong side of a war against Islam.
He was left partially paralyzed after he was shot by police during his arrest.
asserted
he → hold → arrest
Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, a death sentence imposed by court-martial may not be carried out “until approved by the president.”
uncertain
sentence → impose → president
If the Pentagon carries out the killing, Hasan will be the first person killed by a military firing squad since January 31, 1945, when Army Private Eddie Slovik faced 12 riflemen from his own unit armed with M1 Garands.
asserted
Slovik → carry → Garands
The last military execution took place April 13, 1961, when Army Private John Bennett was hanged.
asserted
Bennett → take → place
Bloody public spectacles of government-sanctioned deaths and lynchings by mob violence began to disappear in the U.S. over the last century ago as states and the federal government moved towards what they considered more “humane” ways of killing people being closed doors through the expanded use of gas, electrocution and drugs.
asserted
ways → sanction → gas
Executions are typically carried out privately within correctional facilities, away from cameras and the general public, except for a small audience of officials, families and members of the press.
asserted
Executions → carry → press
During Trump’s first term, the federal government executed 13 people, the most under any president in more than 120 years, and a streak that resumed after a 17-year hiatus.
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that → execute → hiatus
Before he left office, Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 people awaiting executions on federal death row, leaving death sentences in place for only three men.
asserted
Biden → leave → men
Hours after he returned to the White House, Trump signed an executive order directing the attorney general to seek the death penalty in future cases “for all crimes of a severity demanding its use.”
asserted
Trump → return → use
Earlier this year, the Department of Justice also unveiled a plan to “strengthen the death penalty” by directing the Bureau of Prisons to use pentobarbital for lethal injections and consider other execution methods — including firing squads and even electrocution — to expedite death sentences of federal death row inmates.
asserted
Department → unveil → inmates
Two dozen states do not carry out capital punishment, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
uncertain
states → carry → Center
Deterrence is “one of the most commonly expressed reasons” for using the death penalty.
asserted
Deterrence → express → penalty
But despite Trump’s claims, evidence shows that “states that impose the death penalty are not safer than states that do not use the death penalty,” according to the center.
uncertain
that → show → center
At least five states allow firing squads as a method of execution.
asserted
states → allow → execution
Last year, South Carolina carried out three killings by firing squad, the first in more than a decade.
asserted
Carolina → carry → decade
In April 2025, a three-person firing squad in South Carolina shot Mikal Mahdi, who cried out as the bullets struck him, according to witnesses.
uncertain
bullets → shoot → witnesses
He groaned twice before taking one final breath.
asserted
He → groan → breath
An autopsy report later revealed two wounds on his chest, and none of the bullets directly hit his heart, which is where the gunmen are supposed to aim.
asserted
gunmen → reveal → heart
Mahdi, 42, endured “excruciating conscious pain and suffering” for up to one minute and suffered a prolonged death, according to his attorneys.
uncertain
Mahdi → endure → attorneys
The Aporia
