Trump has not decided whether Hasan’s execution will be broadcast — Deutsche Welle

US President Donald Trump said he has not yet made a decision on a live broadcast of the planned execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, a former US Army military psychiatrist who carried out a shooting at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009. Deutsche Welle reports.

Trump told reporters that Hasan certainly deserves the death penalty by firing squad, but added that he still has to decide on the broadcast. Earlier, the Pentagon announced its intention to show the execution publicly. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in a video released by the department that people must see the serious consequences of such crimes.

Execution scheduled for December 3

The 56-year-old Hasan is on death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. His execution is scheduled for December 3. After the 2009 attack, Hasan was wounded by an officer who arrived at the scene of the shooting; he has been paralyzed below the waist and has used a wheelchair ever since.

During the shooting at the Fort Hood military base in Texas, Hasan killed 13 people and wounded another 32. Deutsche Welle calls the attack the deadliest shooting at a military base in US history.

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Criticism from both parties

The idea of a broadcast has drawn objections from Republicans and Democrats. Republican Austin Scott said he supports the death sentence but compared broadcasting executions to the practices of jihadists. His fellow party member Rob Bresnahan stressed that an execution should not be turned into a public spectacle, and that attention should be focused on justice for the victims and their families.

Democrat Eugene Vindman called a public broadcast an action characteristic of terrorists and authoritarian regimes. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said Hegseth is turning the execution into a cruel and inhumane spectacle. The idea was also condemned by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

US Vice President J.D. Vance said he does not know whether the broadcast will actually take place and added that he will not watch it if it is public.