Trump cancels livestream of assassin's planned execution

After massive public pressure, US President Donald Trump canceled the planned live broadcast of an execution by the US military. Many "very good and well-meaning people" would rather not watch the man die, Trump explained the decision in his online service Truth Social.

The US president said gunman Nidal Hasan "will die by firing squad as planned, but this event will not be broadcast." In Trump's view, a public broadcast could have had a strong deterrent effect. The victims' closest relatives are now allowed to be there in person if they wish.

Former army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan killed 13 people at the Fort Hood military base in Texas in 2009. 32 other people were injured. The attacker then stated that he had retaliated for the US wars in the Muslim world.

He was sentenced to death by a military court in 2013 for his crime. The Death Penalty Information Center notes that Hasan still has the opportunity to appeal his death sentence in federal courts that are not military courts. Such a move could therefore delay his execution indefinitely.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the live broadcast of the execution planned for December 3rd last week. “People need to understand that such acts have serious consequences,” said Hegseth.

However, the announced livestream was met with outrage both within Trump's Republican ranks and internationally. Critics warned, among other things, that the recordings could serve as propaganda material for terrorists. At the same time, the plans raised questions about how one could have prevented children, for example, from watching the live stream. Vice President JD Vance, among others, had declared that he would not watch the execution.

Internationally, according to the human rights organization Amnesty International, at least 17 public executions took place last year: six in Afghanistan and eleven in Iran.

If the execution is actually carried out, 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 U.S. military firing squad since World War II.