US President Donald Trump has said that the execution of the Fort Hood gunman would not be livestreamed, but that the immediate families of the victims would be able to view it in person.
"I think streaming the execution for all to see might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and sucm like Hasan but, many very good and well-meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
"He will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed. That said, the execution may be viewed in person by the immediate families of the victims, if they so choose. They deserve to witness justice!"
Some of Trump's fellow Republicans, including Vice President JD Vance, as well as religious leaders and international observers, had expressed doubts about the Pentagon's plan to livestream the December 3 execution of Nidal Hasan. Recent polls have also shown a majority of Americans opposed livestreaming it.
Hasan was found guilty in a military trial of fatally shooting 13 people at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009.
The army psychiatrist walked into a medical building where soldiers were getting medical checkups and opened fire with a laser-sighted handgun.
He said it was an effort to stop them from going to Afghanistan and killing his fellow Muslims and made almost no effort to defend himself at trial.
He told jurors that evidence would show he was the shooter and described himself as a soldier who had “switched sides.”
Hasan is set to become the first person to be executed by firing squad by the US military since 1945, shortly after the end of World War Two, experts say.
