US Vice President JD Vance has said he would not watch a planned livestream of the execution of Nidal Hasan, who was convicted of killing 13 people in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting.
Speaking to reporters in Ohio, Vance expressed uncertainty about whether the Pentagon's reported plan to broadcast the firing squad execution would go ahead.
"If it's all through livestream, I'm not going to be watching it," Vance said.
Asked how his faith aligned with the Pentagon's reported plans, Vance distinguished the debate over the execution's broadcast from the killings for which Hasan was convicted.
"First of all, I've seen these announcements. I don't know that's actually going to happen," he said.
Vance added that he expected Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, to be executed in December.
He also urged the public not to lose sight of the victims.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday that Hasan would be executed by firing squad on Dec. 3 at Fort Hood, Texas.
First public execution in a century
Vance argued that public discussion about the method of execution should not overshadow the scale and circumstances of the 2009 attack.
“This is a guy who committed, in my view, the worst terrorist attack on American soil outside of 9/11,” he said.
Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people and injuring more than 30 others in the November 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas.
On Friday, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric described the prospect of a government executing someone before live cameras as “abhorrent,” warning that broadcasting an execution could raise concerns under international human rights standards.
The planned broadcast would reportedly mark the first public execution in the US in nearly a century.
