The Pentagon says the Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan’s firing-squad execution will be livestreamed on Dec. 3.
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The Pentagon says the firing-squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan will be livestreamed, with the execution scheduled for Dec. 3 at Fort Hood.
The Army announced this week that Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people and injuring 32 others in a 2009 shooting at the military base, and said the execution would take place at Fort Hood on Dec. 3.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had previously said in comments to Real America’s Voice News that people would be able to watch the execution and called it “public,” before Pentagon officials clarified that the execution would be livestreamed and said more details would follow.
The Pentagon chief later said he did not expect to discuss Hasan’s final requests, replying, “Don’t care. We’ll see him on Dec. 3.”
The livestream plan has prompted legal debate among experts about how the execution would be carried out and what it could mean for transparency, with some saying it could help inform the public about capital punishment, and others raising questions about legal and public-policy issues including dignity and viewing eligibility.
Hasan’s case dates to Nov. 5, 2009, when the Army psychiatrist, then a major, walked into a medical building where soldiers were waiting for immunizations and medical clearance for deployment. He shouted “Allahu akbar” and opened fire with a laser-sighted handgun, including shots at soldiers fleeing toward the parking lot.
In the 2013 military trial, a judge barred Hasan from presenting as a defence his claim that the attack was meant to stop soldiers from going to Afghanistan to kill fellow Muslims. Hasan was left paralyzed from the waist down and now uses a wheelchair.
During trial proceedings, Hasan told jurors he was the gunman, and after firing his lawyers and representing himself, he did not call any witnesses for his defence. The military called nearly 90 witnesses before Hasan rested his case.
After Hasan was convicted, an attorney says he spoke with Hasan on Wednesday but is barred from offering details about that conversation, including Hasan’s access to counsel at the notification of the execution.
A spokeswoman for the Army said Thursday that multiple attempts were made to contact Trial Defense Service attorneys for the notification and said civilian counsel was not reasonably available to be physically present for the notification on the 5th, adding that counsel was located in Virginia.
The spokeswoman also said Hasan has not been kept from contacting and communicating with his counsel.
Hegseth said the military hasn’t executed a service member by firing squad since World War II, noting that the last military execution by hanging occurred on April 13, 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was executed.
Amnesty International reported in its 2025 executions report that it knew of at least 17 public executions, including 11 in Iran and 6 in Afghanistan.
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