UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said a planned livestream of Nidal Hasan's 3 December firing-squad execution could amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
The United Nations on Friday called US plans to livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan abhorrent and said the broadcast could violate the prohibition on torture, Reuters reported. Spokesman Stephane Dujarric spoke at the daily briefing in New York.
Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 in a 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, now the Texas base where the execution is scheduled for 3 December. Reuters said he is set to be the first person executed by a US military firing squad since 1945. The Associated Press reported that the Army announced the date this week and that the Pentagon said on Thursday the execution would be livestreamed.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had told Real America's Voice on Wednesday that people would be able to watch and that it would be public, AP reported. Asked whether Hasan had made final requests, Hegseth replied, "Don't care. We'll see him on Dec. 3." The White House referred questions about the livestream to the Pentagon.
Dujarric said public executions of the kind seen in other countries can constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and that showing an execution live is tantamount to making it public. He said a government executing someone in public, or in front of live cameras, is abhorrent.
Friday's development is the UN response to a plan already announced by the Pentagon. The execution has not taken place. Further technical details of the stream were not in the Reuters or AP accounts.
People Sentiments Negative
- Stephane Dujarric said a livestreamed execution could violate the prohibition against torture.
- Pete Hegseth said people would be able to watch and that the execution would be public, the Associated Press reported.