How the US plan to livestream an execution compares with global practice - Reuters

The U.S. military has announced that it will livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan, scheduled for Dec. 3, using a firing squad. The broadcast will be made available to the public through an online platform, with the intent of providing a transparent record of the event.

Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, was convicted of murdering 13 people and wounding more than 30 others during the 2009 Fort Hood shooting. He received a death sentence in 2013 after a military court found him guilty of the mass killing.

The decision to livestream the execution is unprecedented in the United States. Officials say the live feed will be limited to a short window and will be accessible only through a specific website, with measures in place to prevent unauthorized redistribution of the footage.

Globally, the practice of broadcasting executions is rare. While a handful of countries that retain capital punishment have occasionally allowed limited televised coverage—such as China, Iran and Saudi Arabia—most nations that carry out the death penalty do not provide live public access to the proceedings. In many jurisdictions, executions are conducted behind closed doors, and any recordings are typically restricted to official archives.

The planned livestream marks the first instance in a Western democracy of making an execution publicly viewable in real time, prompting discussion about the balance between transparency, public interest and the ethical considerations surrounding the display of state‑sanctioned death.