For the first time in 65 years, the USA wants to carry out a military execution in public, as the Pentagon chief says. It would be the first public execution in the country in almost a century.
The planned shooting of an assassin is to take place at the Fort Hood military base in the state of Texas and will be broadcast via live stream.
Washington. The shooting of a condemned assassin at a military base in the US state of Texas, planned at the beginning of December, is to be broadcast via live stream. This was confirmed by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Platform
It will be ensured that people can publicly observe the execution of Nidal Hasan, who committed a massacre at a military base in 2009, Hegseth told the right-wing conservative US broadcaster Real America's Voice. “People need to understand that such acts have serious consequences.”
If the execution actually takes place, it would be the first military execution in the United States in 65 years, according to the Death Penalty Information Center - and the first execution by a US military firing squad since World War II.
Hegseth emphasized that soldiers with rifles should carry out the execution. "We haven't done this since World War II. Well, I kind of like the mentality we had in World War II," he said.
The execution is scheduled for December 3rd at the Fort Hood military base in Texas. The then military psychiatrist Hasan killed 13 people and injured 32 there.
Executions in the USA are currently in particular focus
Trump only recently approved Hasan's execution - a few days after an execution attempt failed in the US state of Tennessee. According to authorities, Christa Pike, who was convicted of murder, was given two doses of the drug pentobarbital, but she continued to live. The case has reignited the debate about the death penalty in the United States.
In line with Afghanistan and Iran?
Public shootings were used as a deterrent in the USA, including during the American Civil War in the 19th century. The last public execution in the United States was in 1936, when a man was hanged in the state of Kentucky in front of thousands of onlookers.
If the United States actually carries out a public execution again, it would bring it closer to states whose practices it likes to denounce elsewhere. According to the human rights organization Amnesty International, at least 17 public executions took place last year: six in Afghanistan and eleven in Iran.
Such a process - especially broadcast via livestream - raises many questions, such as whether there will be access restrictions to prevent children, for example, from watching the execution.
Democrat shocked: “What is he imitating?”, IS?
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy was visibly shocked in an interview with US broadcaster CNN when he heard of Hegseth's announcement: "This is disgusting. What is he imitating? Executions by (the Islamic State terrorist group) ISIS?" He understands that there is the death penalty in the USA - "but public executions are medieval." He criticized this as one of the processes that the USA abhors in terrorist groups.
The President of the US Bishops' Conference, Paul Coakley, said he was "shocked and deeply saddened." He told the news portal “Vatican News” that this decision was a “barbaric promotion of a culture of death” that must be reconsidered. “Our God is a God of life.” He added: "The public execution of even one who has committed grave injustice will only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation and tarnish the conscience of its people."
The last military execution in the USA took place in 1961
The U.S. military last executed an Army member who was hanged in 1961, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. According to US media, the man was sentenced to death for the rape and attempted murder of an eleven-year-old during his deployment in Austria.
If the sentence against Hasan is carried out, it would also be the first execution at the federal level since January 2021. Back then, Trump had 13 prisoners executed in the last weeks of his first term in office.
At a campaign appearance in Texas on Wednesday (local time), Trump praised the planned execution of Hasan, whom he described as a "vicious murderer."
The Fort Hood Massacre
In November 2009, Hasan, a US Army psychiatrist, opened fire at the Fort Hood base, killing 12 soldiers and a civilian and wounding dozens of people before he himself was shot and arrested.
According to the New York Times, Hasan said he carried out the attack in the name of jihad, the so-called holy war. He called the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq illegal. The attack occurred at the height of the anti-terror struggle after September 11, 2001. According to US media, Hasan was born in the USA to Palestinian parents and had become increasingly radicalized before the attack.
He was sentenced to death by a military court in 2013 for his crime. He showed no remorse and expressed the wish that he had died in the attack himself in order to be considered a martyr. Hasan is one of four death row inmates in the military justice system, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
The nonprofit notes that he still has the option to appeal his death sentence in federal courts other than military courts. Such a move could therefore delay his execution indefinitely.
