The Pentagon’s plan to livestream a military execution by firing squad has drawn condemnation from the United Nations and human rights groups worldwide.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, 44, confirmed the December 3 execution of Nidal Malik Hasan at Fort Hood, Texas, will be broadcast, making it the first livestreamed lawful execution in modern history and the first U.S. Firing squad death since 1945. President Donald Trump, 78, has reportedly approved the method, with the White House stating he is open to the livestream component.
UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric addressed the plan during a press briefing in New York on October 9, as reported by the UN. “The possibility of…a government executing someone in public or in front of live cameras, frankly, is abhorrent.”
The broadcast would place the United States alongside a small group of nations still conducting public executions. Amnesty International documented 17 known public executions in 2025, with 11 carried out in Iran and six in Afghanistan. Iran Human Rights reports over 400 executions in Iran so far in 2026, two of them public. Agence France-Presse noted that four of Afghanistan’s 2025 public executions took place in stadiums before spectators.
North Korea presents a more opaque picture, with witness accounts — including from school children — describing public executions despite the absence of official confirmation. Various reports have also emerged from Somalia and Yemen.
Human Rights Watch, in September remarks quoted by US News, connected public execution practices to political repression. “Public executions of protesters further escalate the death penalty to a weapon of political repression,” the organization stated.
The group added: “In addition to violating the rights and human dignity of those executed, by making an exhibit of an inherently cruel and degrading punishment, public executions also aim to instill fear in the population and deter additional public dissent.”
The distinction between physical and digital witnessing has become central to the debate. A public execution traditionally requires members of the general public present in person; the lethal injection attempts on Christa Pike, for example, did not qualify despite reporters and observers in attendance. The Hasan execution would not have a stadium audience but would stream to any viewer with an internet, television, or phone connection.
Even victims’ families have questioned the approach. The brother of Michael Pearson, 22, one of 13 people killed in Hasan’s 2009 attack, appealed to officials to reconsider making the death publicly viewable in this manner.
Historically, public executions served as demonstrations of state authority and deterrents against lawbreaking, with nearly every nation having employed the practice at some point. Most have since abandoned it or abolished capital punishment entirely.
The scheduled execution returns to the same Texas base where Hasan carried out his mass attack. The method and broadcast format remain contested by multiple human rights organizations as the date approaches.
Vice President JD Vance has reportedly expressed doubt about Hegseth’s livestream plan amid the growing backlash.