Livestreamed execution: UN warns of torture, Vance says he won't watch
The Pentagon's plan to stream the firing-squad execution of Fort Hood gunman Hasan draws criticism from senators, bishops and the UN. Supporters cite transparency.
Archive image · Photo: David B. Gleason from Chicago, IL / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped and resized)
The U.S. Defense Department's plan to livestream the execution of Fort Hood gunman Nidal Hasan is meeting broad opposition. The UN human rights office told AFP that livestreaming an execution is tantamount to a public execution and would breach the absolute prohibition of torture. Hasan, who shot dead 13 people at the Fort Hood base in 2009, is scheduled to be executed by firing squad on 3 December, according to AP. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the livestream on Thursday.
Vice President JD Vance said on Friday that he questioned whether it would happen and that he would not watch, AP reported. Republican Senator Thom Tillis called the plan “beyond disgusting” and compared it to the practices of “oppressive dictatorships”, while Democrat Chris Murphy also called it “disgusting”. Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called the decision “a barbaric promotion of a culture of death”. Republican Andy Ogles defended it, saying a public execution is “what this terrorist deserves”.
The plan is contested even among death penalty supporters. Law professor Robert Blecker argued, according to AP, that the public should be able to see what is done in its name. Rachel Sutphin, whose father, a sheriff's deputy, was killed, warned that retribution has almost become a form of entertainment. According to a July Pew survey, about two-thirds of U.S. adults consider the death penalty morally justified for murder; 30 people have been executed in the U.S. this year, with eight more executions scheduled, AP reported.