(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) US President Trump announced on Thursday (October 15) that he would cancel a live broadcast of a death penalty execution and would not publicly broadcast the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, the 2009 Fort Hood shooter in Texas, as originally planned by the Pentagon.
Trump wrote on the "Real Community" platform: "Live broadcasting the execution for everyone to see may have a powerful deterrent effect, allowing the world to witness how the United States deals with terrorists and scum like Hassan; however, there are many very kind and good people who would rather not witness his death, whether through live broadcast or any visual device."
Trump said that the immediate family members of the shooting victims can still go to the scene to watch Hassan's execution if they wish. "They deserve to see justice done!" According to the practice of executions in the United States, the family members of the victims can already attend the execution of death row prisoners.
Previously, last Wednesday (7th), U.S. Secretary of Defense (officially known as the Department of War) Pete Hegseth stated that Hassan would be executed at Fort Hood on December 3 by a firing squad composed of soldiers, and the process would be broadcast live for the world to watch.
Hegseth made the remarks while chatting with right-wing internet celebrity Jack Posobiec aboard the USS Lincoln. The Lincoln returned to its base in California last week after a nearly 11-month voyage.
"People need to know that there are serious consequences to something like this," Hegseth said. "I like the mentality we had in World War II, which was to win."
A Reuters report on the 15th quoted an unnamed White House official as saying that Trump did not hear about the live broadcast plan until Hegseth announced it to the media. After the plan was made public, Trump expressed his support for Hassan's execution by firing squad, but he seemed more reserved about whether to broadcast it live publicly, saying the matter was left to the Pentagon to decide.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said on the 15th that after discussions between Trump and Hegseth, Trump decided to cancel the live broadcast plan. "The secretary supports the president's decision and their ideas are completely consistent."
Hassan's execution will be the first by firing squad in the United States since World War II. The last known firing squad execution by the U.S. military occurred in 1945.
“Live broadcast execution” raises questions
The "government's live broadcast of the execution process" has caused huge controversy in the United States. Both Republicans and Democrats have raised concerns that the images of executions may fuel political opposition and polarization. Dozens of retired U.S. military officers issued an open letter warning: "This will tarnish the honor of the troops who carry out the execution and the country to which they belong...Hassan attacked and killed his fellow officers, but instead became a martyr."
U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, who is a Catholic, has stated that he does not plan to watch the live broadcast; religious leaders such as Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, have also expressed opposition, calling it "a barbaric culture that promotes death."
According to a poll jointly released by the Washington Post, ABC News, and Ipsos on the 15th, 80% of the American people oppose live broadcasting of executions.
There was also severe criticism from the international community. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) believes that live broadcasting the execution process "is tantamount to a public execution and would violate the 'absolute prohibition of torture'." The agency has previously issued similar statements regarding public executions in Afghanistan and Iran, saying such acts "constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."
According to statistics from Amnesty International, 17 countries around the world carried out executions last year, with more than 2,700 executions. The largest number of executions were China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the United States. However, only Iran and Afghanistan have records of public executions in the world.
The debate over live broadcasting of executions comes at a time when a controversy related to the death penalty has just erupted in the United States. On September 30, Tennessee executed a female death row inmate for the first time in 200 years. However, death row inmate Christa Pike received two usually fatal injections of pentobarbital but did not die. She was rushed to the hospital for treatment. This failed execution has reignited a fierce debate about the death penalty in the United States.
Who is Hassan?
Hassan was born in Virginia, USA, in 1970, to parents from Palestine. He was a psychiatrist in the U.S. Army, with the rank of colonel.
On November 5, 2009, Hassan walked into the medical building at the Fort Hood Army Base, shouted "Allahu akbar" in Arabic, and shot 13 people with a laser-aimed pistol and injured 32 others. During the shooting, the police shot and wounded Hassan from behind. Since then, Hassan has been partially paralyzed and has been in a wheelchair.
Hassan once claimed that the shooting was to prevent soldiers from going to Afghanistan to kill Muslims. A U.S. military court sentenced him to death in 2013.
