The United Nations criticizes the public broadcast of the execution.. “amounts to the level of torture”

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The United Nations considered that the Pentagon’s plan to broadcast the execution of Nidal Hassan, the perpetrator of the Fort Hood attack that killed 13 people in 2009, live over the Internet amounted to torture, amid criticism from both parties in the United States and from international human rights organizations, while the army intends to carry out the sentence by firing squad on December 3.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stated on Friday that live broadcasting of an execution amounts to a public execution and violates the absolute prohibition of torture. The United Nations indicated that it had issued similar statements regarding public executions in Afghanistan and Iran, describing them as a form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, in a letter sent to Agence France-Presse.

Amnesty International Australia also urged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to pressure Washington to back away from the plan. The organization considered, through its campaigns director, Kenzom Dongdu, that the proposal to broadcast an execution by firing squad for public viewing is a horrific disregard for human dignity, and that turning a state-sponsored killing into a public display increases the cruelty of the death penalty. The organization counted at least 17 known public executions during the year 2025, 6 of which were in Afghanistan and 11 in Iran.

The Death Penalty Information Center reported that the US Army has executed 135 soldiers since 1916, and that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s statements may be just aspirations, as there are currently no regulations or precedents that allow an execution to be broadcast live over the Internet or made available to the public in any other way. The center's executive director, Robin Maher, said that public executions usually take place in authoritarian countries to spread fear among the population and demonstrate the government's power and control.

While American lawmakers described the move as disgusting, some compared it to the practices of terrorist groups and authoritarian regimes. Members of both parties expressed their rejection of Hegseth's announcement, but some hard-right Republicans welcomed it. Tennessee Republican Representative Andy Ogles said that a public execution is what this terrorist deserves, and that they will be spectators, according to The Guardian.

According to a recent Pew Center poll, 66% of Americans support the death penalty for those convicted of murder, including 84% of Republicans and 51% of Democrats, while only 39% believe that it deters people from committing crimes.

While President Donald Trump has not yet commented publicly on the broadcast plan.

A US Department of Defense official had previously revealed that the execution of Nidal Hassan would be broadcast live in an unprecedented step. Hassan, a 56-year-old former army psychiatrist, will be the first person to be executed by firing squad by the US Army since 1945.

While the Pentagon revealed that it agreed to carry out the execution by firing squad based on Hegseth's recommendation, as required by military law.

This will be the first military execution since 1961, when the sentence was carried out by hanging against a person convicted of rape, a crime that is no longer punishable by death according to Supreme Court precedents.