Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's plan to livestream the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, a 56-year-old former Army psychiatrist convicted of the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, has sparked bipartisan backlash. The execution, scheduled for December 3, is set to be the first public execution in the U.S. in 90 years.
Hegseth announced the plan after Trump approved the firing squad execution of Hasan, who is paralyzed from the waist down and currently held on death row in Fort Leavenworth. The Pentagon's decision to livestream the execution has drawn criticism from both Republicans and Democrats, with lawmakers calling it a 'gruesome inhumane spectacle' and 'what jihadists do.'
The backlash includes calls for the execution to be private, with some lawmakers arguing that public executions are a 'disgrace' and 'un-American.' The UN and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have also condemned the plan, with the latter calling it a 'barbaric promotion of a culture of death.'
The controversy highlights a deep divide over the ethical implications of public executions, with some supporters arguing that it is a matter of justice and transparency, while opponents see it as a violation of American values and a spectacle that gives the perpetrator more attention.