The Pentagon says the December 3 execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan will be streamed publicly, a first in modern American history that lawyers say may never happen.
The United States is preparing to carry out its first military execution in more than six decades \u2014 and to stream it for the public to watch.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has confirmed that Nidal Hasan, a former US Army major and psychiatrist, will face a firing squad at Fort Hood in Texas on 3 December. A Defense Department official told the BBC the execution would be livestreamed, a step believed to be without precedent in the country's modern history.
The Ghana Report carried details of the decision, which has already drawn objections from the United Nations and from lawyers who work on death penalty cases.
Who is Nidal Hasan?
Hasan, from the US state of Virginia, admitted shooting dead 13 unarmed soldiers inside a crowded medical building at Fort Hood in 2009. At his court martial in 2013, he said he believed he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan. He also apologised in court for what he called "any mistakes".
A Pentagon spokesperson said on Monday that President Donald Trump had approved Hegseth's recommendation to proceed. Under US military law, the president must personally sign off on a military execution.
Why the livestream is controversial
The UN human rights office told AFP that broadcasting the execution would amount to a public execution and would breach the absolute prohibition on torture.
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy told CNN the plan was "disgusting" and compared it to executions staged by the Islamic State group.
John Mills, a lawyer who represents prisoners sentenced to death, described the move as unprecedented in the modern era and said it sits on uncertain legal ground. He also noted that Hasan's appeals are not finished, and that a federal court review would most likely delay the execution.
Deborah Denno, a law professor at Fordham University who studies execution methods, said no execution in the US has ever been livestreamed. She raised practical questions, including whether the stream would be age-restricted. Army regulation 190-55, which sets out who may witness military executions, bars anyone under 18.
Hegseth defended the plan in an interview with the conservative outlet Real America's Voice, saying Hasan is "gonna get a firing squad of soldiers. As it should be." Asked about any final requests, he replied: "Don't care. We'll see him on December 3rd."
A survivor's view
Alonzo Lunsford, a former US Army sergeant shot seven times in the 2009 attack, told the BBC's Today programme he supports the firing squad. He questioned whether the wider public should watch, but said survivors and bereaved families should see it uncensored. He plans to attend.
The wider picture
Amnesty International recorded more than 2,700 executions across 17 countries last year, with only Iran and Afghanistan carrying out public executions. China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the US recorded the highest totals.
Trump lifted Joe Biden's moratorium on federal executions on returning to office. A Pew Research survey in July found 66 percent of Americans support the death penalty for murder.
The last US military execution was a hanging in 1961. The last by firing squad was in January 1945.
