The Pentagon will execute Nidal Hasan by firing squad on camera: the first public execution in the US in almost a hundred years

Former US Army major Nidal Hasan will be executed by firing squad on 3 December at the Fort Hood base in Texas. That is the Pentagon's decision, approved by Donald Trump. What is new is that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth wants everyone to watch. "We'll make sure people can watch it, that it's public," Hegseth said, and then confirmed on X that the execution will be livestreamed online.

If it goes ahead, it will be the first military execution in the US in more than 60 years, the first by firing squad since the end of the Second World War and, according to reports, the first public execution in America in almost a hundred years. The last military execution was carried out in 1961, by hanging. The last firing squad - in 1945, when Private Eddie Slovik was executed for desertion.

The crime is not in dispute

Hasan, an army psychiatrist, opened fire on 5 November 2009 in a medical building at Fort Hood where soldiers were waiting for check-ups before deploying. He killed 13 unarmed people. Before a military court in 2013 he said he believed he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan. That was his choice and his crime.

But the question Hegseth raises is not whether Hasan is guilty. The question is why one convict's death should be turned into a show. Asked whether Hasan had any last wishes or had appealed to Trump, the secretary replied: "I don't care. See you on December 3." The firing squad will be made up of soldiers - "exactly the way it should be", Hegseth said.

Lawyers: "This belongs to the Middle Ages"

Lawyer John Mills, who represents death row inmates, says a live broadcast has no precedent in modern times and stands on shaky legal ground. Hasan's appeals are not finished, and he will most likely seek review in federal court, which could delay the execution. "The attempt at a livestream and the firing squad are just attention-seeking by the Trump administration," Mills says. Eugene Fidell, a lecturer at Yale Law School, is even harsher: "Livestreaming an execution belongs to the Middle Ages. I thought we had outgrown that as a society."

Professor Deborah Denno of Fordham University sees another angle: more than half of Americans support the death penalty, although the number is falling. A broadcast would confront them with what they support. "If you want the death penalty, we'll show you how it's carried out."

There is also a technical question - where? Meta explicitly bans livestreaming executions, TikTok does not allow disturbing content, and X removes footage of someone's death if the family asks. Truth Social, the platform Trump owns, has no livestreaming option at all.

Trump and public executions

Trump has long supported the death penalty. Back in 1989 he paid for an ad in The New York Times calling for the execution of five teenagers in the "Central Park" case - boys who were later fully exonerated. And before the attack on Iran this year, he condemned public executions in that country. After returning to the White House he lifted Joe Biden's moratorium on federal executions.

Macedonia's 1991 Constitution does not allow the death penalty. In America, meanwhile, the state is preparing to put it on screen. When justice needs an audience to count, who is it really for - the victims of Fort Hood, or the voters?