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Editor, OBSERVER:
Self-proclaimed “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth’s announcement of plans to livestream the military execution of Nidal Hassan by firing squad on Dec. 3 is a cheap stunt to provoke outraged attention to his ongoing macho posturing, since there are legal obstacles, despite Trump’s personal endorsement, to carrying out such a disgusting spectacle.
In addition to presidential approval, military executions require appellate review before they can occur. This has yet to happen and is unlikely to be concluded by Dec. 3, according to John Mills, an attorney who works with condemned prisoners, as quoted in a BBC report.
As pointed out in the same article, Army Regulation 190-55 permits “only certain categories of people, such as journalists and relatives” to observe a military execution and specifically forbids witnesses under the age of 18, making livestreaming such an event to the general public impossible, even if the hideousness of the idea itself were not a sufficient reason to prevent it.
Hassan, a U.S. Army major in 2009 when he attacked and killed 13 soldiers and injured 30 others at Fort Hood, has been sentenced to death. Whether you are for or against the death penalty, a public execution is vengeance and morbid “entertainment” masquerading as justice.
Only two countries carried out public executions last year: Iran and Afghanistan. Is that a club the United States wants to join?
Mary Rees,
Dunkirk