WASHINGTON (MNN); US President Donald Trump said Thursday that the scheduled execution of former US Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan, responsible for the deadly 2009 Fort Hood shooting, would not be livestreamed, but the immediate families of the victims would be allowed to witness it in person if they wished.
Hasan’s execution is scheduled for December 3 at Fort Hood, Texas, where he killed 13 people in a shooting rampage in 2009. It would mark the first execution by a US military firing squad since 1945.
Trump had earlier suggested that broadcasting the execution could serve as a deterrent by showing how the United States deals with terrorists and criminals. However, he acknowledged opposition from people who did not want to watch the execution through a livestream or other visual medium.
“I think streaming the execution for all to see might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan,” Trump wrote. He added that many well-meaning people preferred not to watch Hasan die.
Trump confirmed that Hasan would be executed by firing squad as scheduled, but the event would not be broadcast. He said the immediate families of the victims could attend in person, stressing that they deserved to witness justice.
The livestream proposal had drawn criticism from several quarters, including some Republicans, Vice President JD Vance, religious leaders and international observers.
Recent polling has also indicated that a majority of Americans oppose livestreaming executions.
The United Nations reportedly described broadcasting the execution as “torture,” while the president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops called it a “barbaric promotion of a culture of death.” The prime ministers of Australia and Britain also described the proposal as “abhorrent.”
Hasan, now 56, was sentenced to death in August 2013 after a military jury found him guilty of 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder.
Of the 13 people killed in the shooting, 12 were soldiers. Thirty of those wounded were also military personnel. Hasan was shot by police during his arrest, leaving him partially paralysed and confined to a wheelchair.
The attack occurred weeks before Hasan was due to deploy to Afghanistan.
Under US military law, an execution by firing squad requires presidential approval. The Pentagon said last week that Trump had approved the method on the recommendation of Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The last US military execution was carried out in 1961, when John Bennett was hanged after being convicted of rape and attempted murder.
