The Pentagon will no longer livestream the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan, President Donald Trump announced Thursday.
Trump went on social media to state publicly that airing the execution “might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan,” after first saying the “traitor” assassin is “a very bad and evil man.”
“He will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed,” Trump made clear.
U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had previously announced the public would be able to watch firing squad execution of the former U.S. army psychiatrist, as Breitbart News reported.
He framed it as a warning.
“We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it. That it’s public,” Hegseth said. “Because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things.”
Hasan’s attack left 13 dead as he shouted, “Allahu Akbar,” while committing the atrocity at a military base in Texas in 2009. Another 32 were injured.
His execution by firing squad on December 3 would have been the first military execution in more than 60 years and sparked widespread public debate – both for and against.
The United Nations and Amnesty International condemned the original plan.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called it “a barbaric promotion of a culture of death.” Hillary Clinton called the idea “barbaric.”
The U.S. last staged a public execution back in the 1930s.