Pentagon says Fort Hood attacker's firing-squad execution will be livestreamed

The Pentagon says the execution of former US Army major Nidal Hasan will be livestreamed publicly when it takes place at Fort Hood in Texas on 3 December. Hasan was convicted of killing 13 unarmed soldiers in the 2009 attack at the military base, and the planned execution would be by firing squad. Officials say the move would mark the first public execution in the United States in almost a century and the first military execution in more than 60 years.

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US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the public should be able to watch the execution, describing it as a case with serious consequences. A Defence Department official confirmed to the BBC that the execution would be livestreamed, while Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said earlier in the week that the defence secretary had made the recommendation and President Donald Trump had approved it. Hegseth also said Hasan would receive a firing squad of soldiers, adding that the execution would go ahead on 3 December.

The case is significant because military executions are rare in the United States and are subject to a separate legal process from civilian death penalty cases. Under military law, such an execution requires presidential approval, appellate review and a final review before it can proceed. The decision to make the execution public has also drawn attention from legal observers, with one lawyer describing it as unprecedented in the modern era and on uncertain legal terrain.

Hasan, a US Army psychiatrist from Virginia, admitted in court that he was the gunman in what is widely described as the deadliest non-combat attack on an American military base. The shooting took place on 5 November 2009 in a crowded medical building where deploying soldiers were waiting for check-ups and vaccines. At his court martial in 2013, Hasan said he believed he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan, while also apologising for what he called any mistakes.

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The planned execution also carries wider symbolic weight because it would be the first military execution by firing squad since the end of World War Two. That makes the case unusual even within the history of capital punishment in the United States. It also places renewed attention on Fort Hood, one of the most closely watched military installations in the country, and on the Pentagon's handling of a case that has remained politically and legally sensitive for years.

The public livestream element is likely to intensify debate over transparency, punishment and the limits of military justice. It is not yet clear how the broadcast will be carried out, what legal challenges, if any, may follow, or whether any final requests from Hasan will affect the process. What remains certain for now is that the execution date has been set for 3 December, and the Pentagon says it intends the event to be visible to the public.

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