US President Donald Trump said Thursday that the execution of former Army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan, convicted of killing 13 people in a 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, will not be broadcast live, reversing an earlier Pentagon decision.
Hasan, a former Army major sentenced to death following the attack, is scheduled to be executed by firing squad on December 3 at the same military installation where the killings occurred.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had previously announced plans to make the execution publicly accessible through a livestream, arguing that broadcasting the punishment would demonstrate the consequences of such crimes.
However, the proposal drew widespread criticism from lawmakers, religious leaders and human rights advocates, who questioned the implications of turning a military execution into a public broadcast.
Trump acknowledged that televising the execution could have served as a deterrent but said concerns raised by those opposed to watching the killing had influenced his decision.
The president confirmed that the execution would proceed as scheduled without a livestream, while immediate family members of the victims would be permitted to witness it in person.
The decision followed the release of an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll on Thursday showing that 80 percent of Americans opposed livestreaming Hasan’s execution.
The survey, conducted between October 9 and 13 among 2,545 US adults, found that 53 percent supported executing Hasan by firing squad, while 42 percent opposed the punishment.
Opposition to broadcasting the execution crossed political divisions, with majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents rejecting the Pentagon’s original plan.
Hasan was convicted by a military court in 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder following the November 5, 2009, shooting, one of the deadliest attacks at a US military installation.
The December execution, if carried out, would be the first conducted by the US military since 1961. The military has not used a firing squad to execute a prisoner since 1945.
The reversal marks a significant departure from Hegseth’s proposal, which had sparked a national debate over capital punishment, public executions and the potential consequences of broadcasting state-sanctioned killings.
