Washington (Monitoring Desk) — US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth has announced that the execution of former US Army officer Nidal Malik Hasan by firing squad will be broadcast live.
According to the US Department of Defence, President Donald Trump has approved the execution of Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 unarmed American soldiers at the Fort Hood military base in 2009. It would be the first public execution in the United States in nearly a century.
John Mills, a lawyer who works on cases involving death-row inmates, said there was no modern precedent for the decision to broadcast an execution live. He added that, from a legal perspective, the move involved an unclear legal issue.
In an interview with conservative television channel Real America’s Voice, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the government would ensure that people could watch the proceedings and that the execution would be made public. According to him, people need to understand that such actions have serious consequences.
Hegseth said Hasan would be executed by a military firing squad and that this was how it should be done.
Earlier this week, the Pentagon announced that Hasan would be executed. This would be the first execution by the US military in more than 60 years.
Nidal Malik Hasan, a US Army major and physician, opened fire at Fort Hood in 2009, killing 13 unarmed American soldiers and injuring 32 others.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement posted on the social media platform X that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had recommended the death penalty, which President Donald Trump approved. It would be the first military execution by firing squad since the end of the Second World War.
Hasan was convicted by a 13-member jury of military officers of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder. The jury unanimously recommended that he be sentenced to death.