Washington [US], October 17: The execution by firing squad of a former US Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 at a military base in Texas will not be livestreamed, President Donald Trump announced on Thursday on his Truth Social platform.
Trump wrote that streaming the execution could be "a strong deterrent" for the world to see "how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like [Nidal] Hasan but, many very good and well-meaning people would rather not watch him die."
Hasan, who was convicted of carrying out a massacre at the Fort Hood military base in Texas in 2009, is scheduled to be executed on December 3 at the site of the attack. He was sentenced to death by a military court in 2013.
Hasan, who is from Virginia, said at his trial he had carried out the attack to protect Taliban members in Afghanistan from US troops.
Livestream plans draw bipartisan criticism US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced last week that the execution would be open to the public, then later said it would livestreamed for all to see.
Speaking to the right-wing US broadcaster Real America's Voice, Hegseth said people needed to understand that such acts carried "serious consequences." The plans drew sharp criticism from across the political spectrum.
Vice President JD Vance expressed doubts about the proposal, saying he would not watch the execution.
Critics also warned that footage could be used as propaganda by terrorists and raised concerns about how children could be prevented from watching.
If carried out, Hasan's execution would be the first under the US military justice system in 65 years and the first by a military firing squad since World War II, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The last execution of a service member by firing squad under the US military justice system took place in 1945.
The last fully public execution in the United States was in 1936, when a man was hanged before thousands of spectators in Kentucky.
Source: Qatar Tribune
