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.

Nidal Hasan, charged with killing 13 people and wounding 31 in a November 2009 shooting spree at Fort Hood, is pictured in an undated handout photo obtained by Reuters on June 29, 2012 [File: Bell County Sheriff's Office/Handout/Reuters]

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.

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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:

Signs against the death penalty set up by activists outside of Indiana State Prison on Tuesday, December 17, 2024, in Michigan City, Indiana, US [Erin Hooley/AP Photo]

What was Hasan convicted of?

Nidal Malik Hasan, a then-Army major, opened fire at an Army processing centre in Fort Hood, Texas, on November 5, 2009, killing 13 people and 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.

When and where will Hasan be executed?

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).

What has Hegseth said?

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. “We’re going to do it at one o’clock, which is when he did it, and it’s going to be soldiers with rifles executing the firing squad.”

Who normally attends executions?

The rules vary in the 27 US states where death penalties are still in place.

Texas law allows up to five close relatives of the victim, a spiritual guide, justice officials, state-ordained chaplains, a judge, the sheriff, and the media to attend an execution.

All persons, however, must be adults older than 18.

When was the last public execution in the US?

It was on August 14, 1936. Rainey Bethea was publicly hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky, after confessing to the rape and killing of 70-year-old Lishia Edwards.

What does international law say about public executions?

The US is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which bans torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment.

While the convention does not completely ban the death penalty, it does strictly restrict its use to the “most serious crimes” and encourages its abolition.

Washington ratified it in 1992, but it issued reservations and stated that the US would retain the right to impose capital punishment as it sees fit.

Legal experts say the public execution of Hasan could violate the clause against degrading punishment under the convention. A livestream would likely also be recorded and shared widely.

What does US law say about who can witness executions?

British-American human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith, who has represented clients on death row in the US and founded the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center in New Orleans in 1993 to represent low-income individuals facing the death penalty, called the move “barbaric”.

He said a public execution broadcast in this manner would violate several laws in the US that prohibit the transmission of obscene, indecent, or graphic material, especially to minors.

There’s no single federal law stipulating who may witness executions, but death penalty states typically prohibit minors.

Likewise, the Army’s justice code ( PDF ) prohibits minors from witnessing an execution.

“I’ve watched six executions, and I suffer from PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] to this day,” Stafford Smith told Al Jazeera. “It’s a nightmare, and you’ll have people who will have traumatic responses to it.”

Smith said several legal challenges are likely, and the Army will likely have to consider several factors if it does go ahead with broadcasting the execution.

Challengers are likely to question how the US military will prevent children from viewing the livestream, and how they will make Hasan’s shooting less ghastly based on the body parts targeted, he said.

Regarding using the public execution as a deterrent, Stafford Smith added the opposite could actually be more likely. He said it could end up “provoking more cases” and that Hasan could be seen as a “martyr” by some.

He added: “This is likely going to Congress. The Democrats will want to stop this. So that will be an interesting battle.”

How have politicians and rights groups responded?

Democrat Senator Chris Murphy called the move “disgusting” and compared it to executions carried out by the Islamic State (ISIL). “I understand that in this country we have the death penalty, but public executions [are] medieval,” he said in an interview with CNN.

Amnesty International Australia said Hegseth’s statements showed an “appalling disregard for human dignity”, and called on Melbourne to intervene.

Meanwhile, New Zealand’s national censor told rights groups urging it to protest that it has no authority to block internet users from viewing the livestream – a sign that governments attempting to restrict access might be hampered.

人权组织和法律专家表示，此举可能会危及未成年人，因为在美国，未成年人通常被禁止目睹死刑执行。

尼达尔·哈桑被控于 2009 年 11 月在胡德堡枪击案中造成 13 人死亡、31 人受伤。图为路透社于 2012 年 6 月 29 日获得的一张未注明日期的照片中的哈桑。[文件：贝尔县警长办公室/提供/路透社]

五角大楼表示，将对被判犯有大规模枪击罪的尼达尔·马利克·哈桑执行枪决进行直播——这将是美国首次执行此类死刑。

五角大楼发言人周四宣布了这一消息，引发了法律界的强烈抗议，专家和人权组织表示担忧，认为这可能违反美国和国际法律，尤其是可能使未成年人面临风险。

特朗普批准对胡德堡袭击者尼达尔·哈桑执行枪决（共四条，此为第一条）

赫格塞斯称，对胡德堡枪击案凶手的枪决将“公开”进行，这是他列出的4项措施中的第2项。

胡德堡枪击案四名嫌犯中，第三名将被枪决：你需要知道的一切

警方调查伊朗战争中使用的英国皇家空军基地附近发生的“恐怖袭击”事件：我们目前掌握的情况（共4条，第4条）

美国军方很少使用死刑，上一次对军官执行绞刑是在 1961 年。枪决则更为罕见，最后一次在军队中使用是在 1945 年。

我们目前掌握的情况如下：

2024年12月17日星期二，活动人士在美国印第安纳州密歇根市的印第安纳州立监狱外竖起了反对死刑的标语。[Erin Hooley/AP Photo]

哈桑被判犯了什么罪？

2009 年 11 月 5 日，时任陆军少校的尼达尔·马利克·哈桑在德克萨斯州胡德堡的一个陆军处理中心开枪，造成 13 人死亡，32 人受伤。

一名陆军精神科医生发现，他的行为是为了阻止向阿富汗部署军队，并制止杀害穆斯林同胞。哈桑本人原定于当月晚些时候被派往阿富汗。

经过漫长的军事审判，哈桑几乎没有为自己辩护，陪审团于 2013 年 7 月裁定他犯有 13 项预谋杀人罪和 32 项谋杀罪，并判处死刑。

尽管哈桑声称自己是出于宗教原因而行动，并且被发现与基地组织有联系，但他并未被判犯有“恐怖主义罪”，因为美国军事司法法典中没有单独的恐怖主义罪名。

本周，五角大楼表示，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普已批准对哈桑执行枪决。根据军方规定，处决必须获得总统批准，且只有总统才能指定具体的处决方式。

哈桑将于何时何地被处决？

周四，五角大楼一名官员表示，哈桑将在胡德堡军事基地被执行死刑，他于 2009 年在该基地杀害了 13 人。

该官员表示，行刑过程将进行直播。

陆军代理部长亚当·特勒将死刑执行日期定为12月3日下午1点（格林尼治标准时间18:00）。

赫格塞斯说了什么？

本周，赫格塞斯在一次播客采访中表示，直播将起到威慑作用。

“我们会确保人们能够看到它，确保它是公开的，因为人们需要明白，这类事情会带来严重的后果，”赫格塞斯在接受极右翼播客主持人杰克·波索比克的采访时说道。

他还补充说，行刑时间具有象征意义。“我们将在一点钟行刑，那是他被杀的时间，行刑队将持步枪执行枪决。”

通常哪些人会出席死刑执行？

在美国仍保留死刑的27个州，相关规定各不相同。

德克萨斯州法律允许受害者的五名近亲、一名精神导师、司法官员、州政府任命的牧师、一名法官、一名警长和媒体人员出席死刑执行。

但是，所有参与者都必须是年满18岁的成年人。

美国上一次公开执行死刑是什么时候？

1936 年 8 月 14 日，雷尼·贝蒂亚在肯塔基州欧文斯伯勒被公开绞死，此前他承认强奸并杀害了 70 岁的莉希娅·爱德华兹。

国际法对公开处决有何规定？

美国是《公民权利和政治权利国际公约》（ICCPR）的缔约国，该公约禁止酷刑、残忍、不人道或有辱人格的处罚。

虽然该公约没有完全禁止死刑，但它严格限制死刑的使用范围，只适用于“最严重的罪行”，并鼓励废除死刑。

华盛顿于 1992 年批准了该条约，但同时提出了保留意见，并声明美国将保留自行决定是否执行死刑的权利。

法律专家表示，公开处决哈桑可能违反《公约》中禁止有辱人格惩罚的条款。而且，现场直播很可能会被录制下来并广泛传播。

美国法律对谁可以见证死刑执行有何规定？

曾为美国死囚提供法律援助的英美人权律师克莱夫·斯塔福德·史密斯 (Clive Stafford Smith) 称此举“野蛮”。他于 1993 年在路易斯安那州新奥尔良创立了路易斯安那州死刑援助中心，旨在为面临死刑的低收入人士提供法律援助。

他表示，以这种方式公开直播处决将违反美国多项禁止传播淫秽、不雅或露骨材料的法律，尤其是禁止向未成年人传播这些材料。

虽然没有哪条联邦法律明确规定谁可以见证死刑执行，但执行死刑的州通常禁止未成年人旁听。

同样，陆军的司法条例（PDF）禁止未成年人目睹死刑执行。

“我亲眼目睹过六次死刑执行，至今仍患有创伤后应激障碍，”斯塔福德·史密斯告诉半岛电视台。“这简直是一场噩梦，有些人会因此产生创伤性反应。”

史密斯表示，可能会面临多项法律挑战，如果陆军决定直播处决过程，可能需要考虑多种因素。

他说，挑战者可能会质疑美国军方将如何防止儿童观看直播，以及如何根据哈桑被射杀的身体部位来减轻枪击事件的恐怖程度。

关于公开处决能否起到威慑作用，斯塔福德·史密斯补充说，实际情况可能恰恰相反。他表示，这最终可能会“引发更多案件”，而且哈桑可能会被一些人视为“烈士”。

他补充道：“这件事很可能会提交国会。民主党人肯定会阻止这件事。所以这将是一场有趣的较量。”

政界人士和人权组织对此作何反应？

民主党参议员克里斯·墨菲称此举“令人作呕”，并将其与伊斯兰国（ISIL）的处决相提并论。他在接受CNN采访时表示：“我知道美国有死刑，但公开处决是中世纪的做法。”

国际特赦组织澳大利亚分部表示，赫格塞斯的言论“令人震惊地漠视人类尊严”，并呼吁墨尔本进行干预。

与此同时，新西兰国家审查机构告诉敦促其提出抗议的人权组织，它无权阻止互联网用户观看直播——这表明试图限制访问的政府可能会受到阻碍。