New Delhi: The United Nations has warned that livestreaming the execution of Nidal Hasan, the former US Army psychiatrist convicted of the 2009 Fort Hood massacre, would amount to torture. The intervention follows the Pentagon’s announcement that his scheduled death by firing squad will be livestreamed, opening a new dispute over the limits of punishment and public access to executions.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights delivered its warning on Friday in a statement to AFP, describing an internet broadcast as equivalent to a public execution. “The livestreaming of an execution is tantamount to a public execution and would breach the absolute prohibition of torture,” the office said in its response to the proposed livestream.
The objection is consistent with the UN’s earlier criticism of public executions in Afghanistan and Iran, rather than a position developed specifically for Hasan’s case. UN experts have previously warned that public executions and floggings violate universal prohibitions on torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
The US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, announced on October 8 that the execution would be public, saying people should be able to witness the consequences of such crimes. A Pentagon official subsequently confirmed the livestreaming plan, although arrangements for accessing the broadcast had not been disclosed.
According to an official US Army announcement, Hasan is scheduled to be executed at Fort Hood, Texas, at 1pm Central Standard Time on December 3. Hegseth has said the location and timing were chosen to place the punishment at the scene of the attack and approximately the hour at which it began.
Hasan killed 13 people and wounded 32 others when he opened fire at the military installation on November 5, 2009, shortly before he was due to deploy to Afghanistan. He later acknowledged responsibility during his court-martial and portrayed the attack as retaliation for US military operations in Muslim countries.
A military jury convicted him in August 2013 and sentenced him to death, beginning a lengthy review process. The US Army says the Supreme Court declined to review his court-martial conviction on March 31, 2025, and the president, Donald Trump, approved the death sentence on October 2.
Presidential approval is required before a US military death sentence can be carried out, with military regulations requiring an execution date between 60 and 150 days after that approval. However, the Death Penalty Information Center says Hasan can still seek review in civilian federal courts, potentially delaying the execution.
Hasan’s civilian lawyer, John Galligan, told ABC News that a habeas corpus petition remained a possibility, although no final decision had been made. Galligan also questioned the decision to transport Hasan, who is paralysed and uses a wheelchair, from his confinement at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas to Fort Hood.
If carried out, the execution would be the first by the US military since 1961 and its first by firing squad since 1945. Making it available to an unrestricted online audience would also mark a major departure from the controlled access that has characterized modern American executions.
There is a precedent for allowing victims to watch an execution remotely, but through a restricted system: relatives and survivors were offered closed-circuit viewing of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh’s execution in 2001. The Death Penalty Information Center told the Associated Press that it had no record of an execution being livestreamed to the general public.
The announcement therefore leaves two separate questions unresolved: whether Hasan’s execution will proceed on the scheduled date and whether the proposed public broadcast will withstand a legal challenge. US media reported that the White House referred questions about Trump’s support for livestreaming to the Pentagon, while military officials promised further details about the broadcast.