Pentagon says firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter will be livestreamed

The United States's first execution by a military firing squad since World War II will be livestreamed, the Pentagon has said.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, convicted of killing 13 people and injuring dozens more in a shooting at the Fort Hood military base in 2009, would happen on December 3.

"We'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public," Mr Hegseth told conservative TV outlet Real America's Voice News.

"People need to understand that there are serious consequences for these types of things."

When asked if Hasan had made any final requests or reached out to the Trump administration, Mr Hegseth replied: "Don't care. We'll see him on December third."

The execution is set to take place at the Texas military base where Hasan committed his crimes.

It comes days after US President Donald Trump approved the execution by firing squad, set to be the first execution carried out by the US military since 1961, when Army Private John Bennett was hanged.

Hasan, a US Army psychiatrist at the time of the Al-Qaeda inspired mass shooting, was sentenced to death by a military jury in 2013.

He chose to conduct his own defence during the trial but called no witnesses and gave no testimony, and made no attempt to deny the charges.

In November 2009, the US-born man opened fire at a medical facility on the Fort Hood base, which served as a staging point for soldiers later deployed to combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Thirteen people were killed and 32 injured, most of them soldiers.

During Hasan's trial, it was revealed he spent weeks planning the deadly attack.

The court heard he videoed a sales clerk showing him how to change the magazine on the pistol he purchased, and went to a gun range outside Austin where he asked for advice on how to reload with speed and precision.

Soldiers later testified that Hasan's rapid reloading made it all but impossible to stop the shooting.

Hasan said it was an effort to stop them from going to Afghanistan and killing his fellow Muslims.

Mr Trump has previously been critical of public executions in Iran, at times using the possibility of protesters being killed by the Iranian government as a possible rationale for military action.

Experts on military law said Hasan could choose to resist execution and file a habeas petition in civilian court, which could significantly delay the execution.

"It frankly might outlast the current administration, and who knows if the next one will have the same penchant for executions," said Eugene R Fidell, a military law expert and visiting lecturer at Yale Law School.