Nidal Hasan execution will be public, Hegseth says

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the firing squad execution of convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan will be public, according to a video shared by the Pentagon on Thursday.

“He's going to get a firing squad of soldiers, as it should be, and we'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public,” Hegseth told right-wing influencer Jack Posobiec in a clip posted on X by official Pentagon accounts.

The Pentagon and the Army did not clarify what Hegseth meant by saying the execution would be public. A Pentagon spokesperson referred questions to the Army, and the Army referred questions back to the Pentagon.

The Pentagon announced earlier this week that President Donald Trump had approved Hasan's execution for the 2009 attack at Fort Hood that killed 13 people. Twelve of those killed and 30 of the wounded were soldiers.

Hasan was shot and partially paralyzed by a civilian police officer who responded to the attack. A military jury sentenced him to death in 2013.

The court that convicted Hasan was told that he opposed the US military occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan and had communicated online with Anwar al-Awlaki, an American cleric later killed in a US drone strike in Yemen.

Hasan's execution would be the first carried out by the US military since 1961. Amnesty International says at least 17 public executions are known to have been carried out last year, including six in Afghanistan and 11 in Iran.