Extract from ABC News
The US Government says Nidal Hasan's death by firing squad will be live streamed. (AFP: Bell Country Sherriff's Department)
In short:
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has said the execution of convicted Fort Hood military base shooter Nidal Hasan will be livestreamed.
Human rights groups and politicians have condemned the plan.
What's next?
Amnesty International Australia is urging Anthony Albanese to raise the issue with Washington.
US Vice-President JD Vance has cast doubt over whether the Pentagon will live stream the execution of a former US Army psychiatrist convicted of a deadly shooting at Fort Hood in 2009
However, a White House official has said US President Donald Trump "doesn't oppose the idea".
Talking to reporters in Cincinnati, Mr Vance said he did not know that Nidal Hasan execution would be shown publicly as he had previously said.
He added that if the execution scheduled for December 3 was live streamed, "I'm not going to be watching it."
"Whatever the controversy is about the method of the execution, I hope that people don't forget that this is a guy who brutally murdered a lot of innocent people," Mr Vance told reporters.
Mr Trump on Friday local time, said at a White House event that Hasan deserved the death penalty by firing squad, calling him "a maniac".
A senior White House official familiar with the matter said Mr Trump did not oppose live streaming the execution but "his position is not yet final and he could change his mind".
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the White House was hearing concerns from politicians, allies and religious leaders who were urging the administration not make the execution public.
The United Nations has condemned the idea, labelling it "abhorrent".
Nidal Hasan shot dead 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009, while working as a US Army psychiatrist.
His execution will be the first the US military has carried out by firing squad since World War II.
However, the move has drawn sharp condemnation.
"A government executing someone in public or in front of live cameras, frankly, is abhorrent," UN spokesperson Stephanie Dujarric said.
In a message sent to AFP, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said the live streaming of an execution was "tantamount to a public execution and would breach the absolute prohibition of torture".
Republican Senator Thom Tillis took to social media to say public executions are what oppressive dictatorships do.
Republican Thom Tillis has been a US Senator from North Carolina since 2015. (Reuters: Elizabeth Frantz)
"Hasan should face the death penalty, but making his execution public and streaming it? Beyond disgusting," he said.
"It should not be happening in America"
Meanwhile, Democratic senator Chris Murphy accused the Secretary of Defense of "mimicking ISIS" in an interview with CNN.
"I mean, I understand that in this country we have the death penalty, but public execution is medieval. It’s frankly one of the things that we abhor about terrorist groups," he said.
The Federal Communications Commission said it would defer to the Pentagon on whether US broadcast networks could air a planned military execution.
Fort Hood survivor questions live stream
Soldiers held a vigil at Hood Stadium on the Fort Hood army post after the fatal shooting. (Jessica Rinaldi: REUTERS)
Former US Army sergeant Alonzo Lunsford was shot seven times during the Fort Hood attack, but survived.
He told the BBC that he agreed with the sentence, but said he was concerned about the execution being live streamed.
"I don't really have any sympathy for him as far as firing squad vs lethal injection, hanging or gas chamber, because he didn't have that same compassion when he did the deed on November 5," he said.
Mr Lunsford said he would attend the execution in person to "look him in the eyes".
He added: "To show the whole thing without it being censored for the general public, for me personally, I don't agree with that, but it's not about my personal belief."
Amnesty International calls on PM to speak out
Amnesty International Australia has urged the Albanese government to underline the country's "long-standing commitment to the global abolition of the death penalty" to Washington.
"The Albanese government must uphold that commitment by raising its concerns directly with the United States, urging authorities to halt the execution, commute Hasan’s death sentence and abandon plans to broadcast it,” Kyinzom Dhongdue, Strategic Campaigns and Advocacy Manager at Amnesty International said.
"The suggestion that an execution by firing squad should be live streamed for public viewing is an appalling disregard for human dignity.
"Turning a state-sanctioned killing into a public spectacle only compounds the cruelty of the death penalty."
No comments:
Post a Comment