Fort Hood attacker's execution by firing squad will be livestreamed, Pentagon says

The public will be able to watch the execution of a former US Army major by firing squad, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said.

A Defense Department official told the BBC the execution of Nidal Hasan, who fatally shot 13 unarmed US soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009, would be livestreamed.

It is believed it would be the first public execution in the US in almost a century. The decision to livestream it is "unprecedented in the modern era" and "on uncertain legal terrain," said John Mills, a lawyer who works with inmates sentenced to death.

"We'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public," Hegseth said. "People need to understand that there's serious consequences for these types of things."

The Pentagon had announced earlier this week that it would execute Hasan in the first military execution in more than 60 years.

Hegseth said in an interview with conservative TV outlet Real America's Voice that Hasan is "gonna get a firing squad of soldiers. As it should be".

Asked if Hasan had made any final requests or reached out to President Donald Trump Hegseth said: "Don't care. We'll see him on December 3rd."

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell had said on Monday that the defence secretary had made the recommendation and Trump approved it.

The BBC has contacted the White House for comment on whether Trump supports a livestreamed public execution.

The execution is scheduled to take place at Fort Hood in Texas on 3 December, the secretary of the US Army said on Tuesday. It will be the first military execution by firing squad since the end of World War Two.

Hasan, a US Army psychiatrist from Virginia, admitted in court that he was the gunman in the deadliest ever non-combat attack on an American military base.

The shooting on 5 November 2009 took place in a crowded medical building where deploying soldiers were awaiting check-ups and vaccines.

At court Hasan apologised for "any mistakes". He said during his court martial in 2013 that he believed he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Fort Hood attacker to be executed by firing squad - a first for US military since World War Two

A military execution requires approval from the US president, according to military law. It also requires appellate review, where a higher court inspects the decision, and a final judgment on its legality to move forward.

The appellate process for Hasan is not over, Mills said, and he is likely to seek review of his conviction and sentence in federal court, which would likely stay the execution.

As such, Mills said that he would be surprised if the execution happened.

"Seeking to make it livestreamed, a firing squad execution, is little more than attention-seeking by the Trump administration and is unlikely to occur, much less deliver any semblance of justice," he added.

Eugene R. Fidell, a visiting lecturer at Yale Law School told the BBC it was a "really unfortunate decision". "To livestream an execution is just so out of the Middle Ages. In a way, we are so past that as a society, at least I thought so until today," he added.

Fiddel said Hasan could pursue legal action that could trigger a lengthy legal process.

"If he does exercise the right, the legal proceedings would last years," Fidell said. "They'd last far longer than President Trump's term in the White House," he added.

Certain states require some form of public viewing of executions. Many states require journalists to be present, and the person due to be executed can invite people. Others also allow ordinary citizens to volunteer as witnesses.

But "there hasn't ever been a livestreamed execution," says Deborah Denno, a law professor at Fordham University, who has studied US execution methods.

A livestreamed execution would "force a level of transparency that we have probably never seen before in this country", she says.

"More than half of the country wants the death penalty - even though that's on the decline - an argument could be made that 'if you want the death penalty, then we are going to show you how it's conducted in this country'. And people would have to realise exactly what's happening in a way that many people ignore."

Denno says there are important considerations for a livestream such as whether it would be age-redistricted and whether it would contravene the policies of the online platform that hosts the viewing.

It is unclear where the livestream will be available. Most major social media platforms have rules that prohibit or restrict livestreaming explicit content.