Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan to face firing squad in first US military execution since 1961
The execution of former US Army major Nidal Hasan, scheduled for 3 December, will be livestreamed to the public, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has confirmed.
Fort Hood gunman set for firing squad as Pentagon plans public livestream
The execution of Nidal Hasan, the former US Army psychiatrist who shot dead 13 unarmed soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009, will be livestreamed to the public, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced. A Defense Department official confirmed the decision to bbc.com, describing it as "unprecedented in the modern era."
"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 execution is scheduled to take place at Fort Hood, Texas, on 3 December. It will be the first military execution in the United States in more than 60 years and the first military execution by firing squad since January 1945, when US Army deserter Eddie Slovik was shot in the final months of World War Two.
Speaking to conservative television outlet Real America's Voice, Hegseth said Hasan is "gonna get a firing squad of soldiers. As it should be." When asked whether Hasan had made any final requests or reached out to President Donald Trump, Hegseth replied: "Don't care. We'll see him on December 3rd."
A Pentagon spokesperson confirmed on Monday that Trump had approved Hegseth's recommendation. The BBC has asked the White House whether Trump supports a publicly livestreamed execution.
First public execution in nearly a century
It is believed the event would mark the first public execution in the United States in almost a century. John Mills, a lawyer who works with death row inmates, described the livestream decision as sitting on "uncertain legal terrain."
Mills also cautioned that the appellate process for Hasan is not complete. Hasan is likely to seek review of his conviction and sentence in federal court, which would in all probability stay the execution. "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," Mills said.
Eugene R. Fidell, a visiting lecturer at Yale Law School, told bbc.com the decision 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," Fidell said. He added that if Hasan pursues legal action, the proceedings would last "far longer than President Trump's term in the White House."
The 2009 Fort Hood attack
Hasan, a US Army psychiatrist from Virginia, admitted to fatally shooting 13 unarmed soldiers in a crowded medical building at Fort Hood in November 2009. At his court martial in 2013, he said he believed he was acting to protect Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan, while also offering an apology for "any mistakes."
Under US military law, an execution requires presidential approval, appellate review by a higher court, and a final judgement on its legality before it can proceed.
Legal and platform obstacles to a livestream
Deborah Denno, a law professor at Fordham University who has studied US execution methods, told bbc.com that "there hasn't ever been a livestreamed execution." She noted that a public broadcast would "force a level of transparency that we have probably never seen before in this country," and raised questions around age restrictions and platform policies.
Most major social media platforms ban or heavily restrict the livestreaming of explicit content. Meta, which owns Instagram, Facebook and Threads, explicitly prohibits any live broadcast of capital punishment. TikTok carries a similar ban. X, which has relaxed content moderation since Elon Musk's takeover, states that content showing a person's death will be removed "if we receive a request from their family or an authorized representative." Truth Social, the platform owned by Trump, does not currently offer a live-stream video feature for users.
It remains unclear where the execution would be broadcast.
Broader context
Globally, more than 2,700 executions were carried out across 17 countries last year. Of those, only two countries conducted them publicly: Iran, where 11 public executions were recorded in 2025, and Afghanistan, with six, according to Amnesty International. The countries with the highest total number of executions last year were China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the United States, in that order.
The US federal government had not executed anyone for 17 years until the final year of Trump's first presidential term, when 13 executions were carried out in quick succession. Upon returning to office, Trump swiftly reversed a moratorium on federal executions introduced by his predecessor Joe Biden.
The last military execution in the United States took place in 1961, when a US Army private was hanged after being convicted of raping an 11-year-old Austrian girl. That execution was authorised by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and proceeded despite the victim's family appealing to his successor, John F. Kennedy, for clemency.
With additional reporting by Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu and Kali Hays.
Source: Times of Malta