US to livestream Fort Hood shooter’s execution: Is that legal?​

Rights groups and legal experts say the move could endanger minors, who are usually barred from witnessing executions in the US. Save Share The Pentagon has said it will livestream the upcoming execution of convicted mass shooter Nidal Malik Hasan by firing squad – a first for the United States. A Pentagon spokesperson made the announcement on Thursday, drawing uproar from legal quarters as experts and rights groups raised concerns that it could violate US and international laws and, in particular, put minors at risk. The US military rarely invokes capital punishment, last executing an officer by hanging in 1961. Firing squads are even rarer, and were last used in the military in 1945. Here’s what we know: Nidal Malik Hasan, a then-Army major, opened fire at an Army processing centre in Fort Hood, Texas, on November 5, 2009,killing 13 peopleand injuring 32 others. An Army psychiatrist found he was acting in an effort to stop military deployments to Afghanistan and to halt the killing of fellow Muslims. Hasan was himself scheduled to be deployed later that month. Following a lengthy military trial in which Hasan made little effort to defend himself, a jury convicted him in July 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of murder, and imposed the death penalty. Although he said he acted on religious grounds and was found to have corresponded with al-Qaeda-linked elements, Hasan was not convicted of “terrorism” as the US military justice code does not have a stand-alone charge for it. This week, the Pentagon said US President Donald Trump had given the go-ahead for Hasan to face a firing squad. The military requires presidential approval for executions, and only the president can stipulate a particular method. On Thursday, a Pentagon official said Hasan was to be executed at the same Fort Hood military base where he killed 13 people in 2009. The official said the execution would be livestreamed. Acting Secretary of the Army Adam Telle set the execution date for December 3 at 1pm local time (18:00 GMT). Speaking in a podcast interview this week, Hegseth said the livestream would act as a deterrent. “We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” Hegseth said during the interview with far-right podcaster Jack Posobiec. He added that the timing of the execution was symbolic....