The public will be able to watch the execution of a former US Army major by firing squad, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said.

A Defence Department official told the BBC the execution of Nidal Hasan, who fatally shot 13 unarmed US soldiers at the Fort Hood military base in 2009, would be livestreamed.

It is believed it would be the first public execution in the US in almost a century. The decision to livestream it was “unprecedented in the modern era” and “on uncertain legal terrain”, said John Mills, a lawyer who works with inmates sentenced to death.

“People need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” said Hegseth.

The UN human rights office told AFP that livestreaming it would be “tantamount to a public execution and would breach the absolute prohibition of torture”.

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy told CNN that the idea was “disgusting” and reminiscent of executions carried out by the Islamic State group.

The Pentagon announced earlier this week it would execute Hasan in the first military execution in more than 60 years.

Hasan, a US Army psychiatrist from Virginia, admitted fatally shooting 13 unarmed soldiers in a crowded medical building at Fort Hood.

Alonzo Lunsford, a former US Army sergeant who was shot seven times in the attack, told the BBC’s Today programme that he supported the execution by firing squad, as a method “befitting” for what he did.

But he said he did not believe everyone should be able to watch the livestream over concerns about the message it might send to younger people, but added that it was important that those affected by the shooting were given the opportunity.

“As far as the families of the fallen and the families of the survivors, and the survivors themselves, yes, I think we should be able to look at it uncensored.”

Lunsford said he planned to attend the execution and before they pull the trigger he wants Hasan to look him in the eyes. “I want him to know he failed. I’m still here.”

Hegseth said in an interview with conservative TV outlet Real America’s Voice that Hasan was “gonna get a firing squad of soldiers – as it should be”.

Asked whether Hasan had made any final requests or reached out to US President Donald Trump, Hegseth said: “Don’t care. We’ll see him on December 3rd.”

A Pentagon spokesperson said on Monday that Trump had approved the defence secretary’s recommendation. The BBC has asked the White House whether Trump supported a livestreamed public execution.

Trump said on Friday that he believed Hasan deserved the execution by firing squad, but he did not mention the livestreaming.

Speaking at an event ahead of a federal holiday celebrating Christopher Columbus that was first observed in 1937, the president said that in the 1900s “we had really strong laws.” He then said that today “you can do almost anything. Nothing happens. But we’re changing that.”

While there were more than 2,700 executions across 17 countries last year, only two nations carried them out publicly.

Eleven public executions were known to have been carried out in Iran in 2025 and another six in Afghanistan, according to Amnesty International.

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops condemned the decision to publicly livestream Hasan’s execution, expressing “shock and great sorrow” in a statement.

“Our God is the God of life,” Archbishop and conference president Paul Coakley said. “In no way can Hassan’s actions be condoned but this decision is a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered.”

The execution is scheduled to take place at Fort Hood in Texas on 3 December. It will be the first military execution by firing squad since the end of World War Two.

In court, Hasan apologised for “any mistakes”. He said during his court martial in 2013 that he believed he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

A military execution requires approval from the US president, according to military law. It also requires appellate review, when a higher court inspects the decision and gives a final judgement on its legality to move forward.

The appellate process for Hasan was not over, Mills said, and he was likely to seek a review of his conviction and sentence in federal court, which would likely stay the execution.

As such, Mills said that he would be surprised if the execution happened.

“Seeking to make it livestreamed, a firing squad execution, is little more than attention-seeking by the Trump administration and is unlikely to occur, much less deliver any semblance of justice,” he added.

Certain states require some form of public viewing of executions. Many states require journalists to be present and the person due to be executed can also invite people. Others allow ordinary citizens to volunteer as witnesses.

But “there hasn’t ever been a livestreamed execution”, said Deborah Denno, who has studied US execution methods.

A livestreamed execution would “force a level of transparency that we have probably never seen before in this country”, the Fordham University law professor said.

“More than half of the country wants the death penalty – even though that’s on the decline – [and] an argument could be made that ‘if you want the death penalty, then we are going to show you how it’s conducted in this country’,” she said.

“And people would have to realise exactly what’s happening in a way that many people ignore.”

Denno said there were important considerations for a livestream, such as whether it would be age-restricted.

Only certain categories of people, such as journalists and relatives, are permitted to watch military executions under Army Regulation 190-55, external. People aged under 18 are excluded.

The BBC has asked the Pentagon and US Army whether the rules restricting who can watch will be waived and what safeguards will be in place to stop young people from watching the stream.

A Defence Department official told the BBC that more details on the livestreamed execution would follow.

The countries with the highest number of executions last year were China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the US, in that order, Amnesty International data shows.

Trump overturned his predecessor Joe Biden’s moratorium on federal executions when he returned to the White House.

Two thirds of Americans (66%) support executions of murderers, a figure which has risen six points in the last five years, according to a Pew Research survey conducted in July, external.

The last military execution in the country took place in 1961, when a US Army private was hanged after being convicted of raping an 11-year-old Austrian girl. The execution was authorised by then-President Dwight D Eisenhower and took place despite the victim’s family asking his successor, John F Kennedy, for clemency.

The last military execution by firing squad took place in January 1945, when a young US Army deserter, Eddie Slovik, was shot during the final months of WW2.

Additional reporting by Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu and Kali Hays

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