'Abhorrent' US plan to livestream execution amounts to torture, says UN

The United Nations has condemned a US plan to livestream the execution of convicted military base shooter Nidal Hasan, labelling it "abhorrent".

United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in a video posted by official Pentagon accounts that Hasan's death by firing squad will be livestreamed.

"We'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public," Mr Hegseth said.

Nidal Hasan shot dead 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009, while working as a US Army psychiatrist.

His execution, set for December 3, will be the first that the US military has carried out by firing squad since World War II.

The move has drawn sharp condemnation from human rights groups and politicians.

"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 livestreaming of an execution "is tantamount to a public execution and would breach the absolute prohibition of torture". 

Mr Hegseth's announcement sparked strong reactions across the political divide in the US. 

But President Donald Trump has so far stayed silent on the matter, directing all enquiries to the Pentagon.

Republican Senator Thom Tillis took to social media to say public executions are what oppressive dictatorships do. 

"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 livestream

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 livestreamed. 

"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 5 November," 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."