Execution of Nidal Hasan, shooter at US military base, to be broadcast live online

A U.S. Department of Defense official said on Thursday that the execution of Nidal Hasan, convicted of carrying out the 2009 shooting attack at Fort Hood military base, would be broadcast live online.

The official, who requested anonymity, told Agence France-Presse, “The execution will be broadcast live online. Details will be announced later.”

Nidal Hasan, an American of Palestinian descent, opened fire on November 5, 2009, inside a medical center at Fort Hood, aiming to prevent soldiers from participating in a war he considered “illegal” in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The attack, carried out by a lone wolf linked to al-Qaeda, killed 13 people, including 12 soldiers, and injured about 30 others.

Hasan’s execution will be the first of its kind carried out by the U.S. military since 1961.

Higsmith told right-wing influencer Jack Posobiec in a video clip published on X and shared by official Pentagon accounts, “He will be executed by a firing squad, as it should be, and we will ensure that people can watch it, and that it is public.”

Higsmith, who was visiting the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, added, “People need to understand that there are... severe consequences for such actions.”

According to Amnesty International, at least 17 public executions were recorded last year, including six in Afghanistan and 11 in Iran.

A military jury sentenced Hasan to death in 2013 for carrying out the mass shooting at Fort Hood in an attack inspired by al-Qaeda.

During the trial, proceedings revealed that Hasan had been communicating online with a figure believed to be affiliated with al-Qaeda, namely the American radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in 2011 in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen.