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What is a firing squad execution? Is it legal in the US? What to know about plans to livestream Nidal Malik Hasan's execution
The Pentagon plans to execute Fort Hood gunman Nidal Hasan by firing squad on December 3.
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The Pentagon has announced plans to execute former Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan by firing squad. Hasan killed 13 soldiers and injured 31 others at Fort Hood in Texas on November 5, 2009. He was sentenced to death in 2013 after a court martial. His execution is set for December 3.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in an October 5 statement that Trump approved the method at the recommendation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Trump backed the plan on October 9. “Death penalty through firing squad, and he deserves it,” he said. He also said: “Killed and wounded many, many people. A maniac.”
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What is firing squad execution?
A firing squad execution is a method of putting a person to death. Hegseth said he will be getting a “firing squad of soldiers,” as per USA Today.
According to Reuters, the US Army regularly carried out such executions in the past, including for soldiers convicted of desertion and other offences. Hundreds of soldiers were sentenced to death during the Civil War.
The last US military member to be executed this way was Pvt Eddie Slovik, who was put to death for desertion on January 31, 1945, according to The Air Force Times.
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Is death by firing squad legal in the US?
Yes. The US Supreme Court said in a unanimous 1879 decision that execution by firing squad is not “cruel and unusual punishment” banned by the Constitution. Last year, the court also cleared the way for South Carolina to carry out its first firing squad execution in decades, as per Reuters.
Five states allow execution by firing squad: Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah. The Trump administration also said earlier this year that it would allow firing squad executions in the federal prison system.
Will the execution be livestreamed?
US President Donald Trump said Friday there has been no decision yet on whether to publicly broadcast the execution of a military base shooter, as per AFP. The Pentagon said it would livestream the execution, which raised questions about whether this is legal. Hegseth said on October 8 that the public will be able to watch.
“We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public,” Hegseth said in an interview with Real America’s Voice. “Because people need to understand that there are serious consequences for these types of things.”
As per USA Today, There is no record of any government in the world livestreaming an execution. The Death Penalty Information Center also could not find any such case. “We have no record of any execution being livestreamed,” the center’s executive director, Robin Maher, told USA Today.
According to Reuters, US law bans recording or broadcasting executions in the federal prison system. However, military rules do not have the same restriction. The state laws usually limit who can watch executions to officials, family members, lawyers and a few media representatives. In 2001, a judge refused a request by an internet company to livestream the execution of Timothy McVeigh.
