US condemned for “barbaric culture of death execution plan
DAVID’S TAKE.
The US is facing worldwide condemnation over a “barbaric” plan to 
execute a disabled man by firing squad and livestream it to the public, with critics comparing the Trump administration to dictatorships in Iran and Afghanistan.
The announcement by the aggressive Trump lapdog Pete Hegseth, the self-styled war secretary,said that the execution by firing squad of the Fort Hood mass killer will be livestreamed, has been condemned around the world.
The Pentagon confirmed that the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, convicted of killing 13 people at a military base at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009, would be livestreamed on December 3.
The United Nations’ office of the high commissioner for human rights warned on Friday that broadcasting the killing would amount to a public execution and “breach the absolute prohibition of torture”.
The plan also drew opprobrium from politicians, religious leaders and human rights advocates in the US and abroad. Hillary Clinton, the former US secretary of state, wrote on social media: “A barbaric idea, beneath our dignity as a country.
Under US military law, a president must approve an execution by firing squad. Trump did so on the recommendation of Hegseth.
Hegseth gleefully confirmed the livestream plan after previously saying that the execution would be public. Speaking to the conservative broadcaster Real America’s Voice, he said people should be able to watch because they need to understand that there were “serious consequences” for such crimes.
Now 56, Hasan was sentenced to death by a military jury in 2013 after being convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. Twelve of those killed and 30 of the wounded were soldiers.
The former army psychiatrist opened fire with a handgun at a medical facility at Fort Hood as soldiers waited for medical checks before deployment. He was shot by a police officer during his arrest and left partly paralyzed, and now uses a wheelchair.
The execution is expected to be the first by firing squad carried out by the US military since 1945, when Army private Eddie Slovik was hanged for desertion during World War II.
The decision, approved by President Trump, follows
the botched lethal injection of Tennessee death-row prisoner Christa Pike last week, which has focused attention on the number of executions in the US.
Public executions have largely disappeared around the world. Amnesty International recorded at least 17 in 2025, including 11 in Iran and six in Taliban-run Afghanistan.
The proposed live stream has prompted criticism from religious leaders. Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, said it was a “barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered”.