‘Livestream Somebody’s Death?’ Abdul El-Sayed Rips into Pentagon Plan

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed criticizes the Pentagon over its reported plan to livestream the execution of the convicted Fort Hood shooter. Calling the idea “kind of machismo,” El-Sayed questions the decision to broadcast a person’s death, saying it “says a lot about who you are.” His remarks raise questions about the purpose, ethics and public messaging behind a potential execution livestream. Watch El-Sayed’s response and his criticism of the Pentagon’s approach to capital punishment and public accountability.

Listen to what Abdul El-Sayed has to say about this savagery.

Why Pete Hegseth Wants to Livestream an Execution on December 3.

Oct 10, 2026 | The Pentagon has announced plans to livestream the upcoming execution of Nidal Hasan, the former Army psychiatrist convicted of the 2009 Fort Hood shooting. Scheduled for December 3 by firing squad, this marks the first U.S. military execution in over six decades—and the first military firing squad since 1945. Spearheaded by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth with the approval of President Donald Trump, the plan to broadcast the execution live has triggered intense political, legal, and international backlash.

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Professor Tim Wilson: Death as Entertainment: Trump's Return to the Public Execution

Oct 9, 2026 | rom Anne Boleyn to Fort Hood: The Politics of Public Death.

I Saw Iran Execute a Man in Public. Is This What the US Wants?

THE GUARDIAN: It is odd for the US defense secretary to be laying the groundwork for an event that could be organized by Tehran

Screenshot taken from this Guardian article. | Iranian police officers near the rope to be used to hang Muhammad Bijeh, in Pakdasht, Iran, on 16 March 2005. Photograph: Vahid Salemi/AP
Pete Hegseth’s plans to stage a public execution resemble a grotesque Iran-imitation game.

Having failed over the past seven months to defeat the Tehran regime on the battlefield, the self-styled “secretary of war” now proposes to mirror its notorious practice of enforcing the death penalty as a grand public spectacle.

“We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” Hegseth, with barely concealed relish, told the rightwing Real America’s Voice network of the planned execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, a former army psychiatrist who killed 13 people at a military base at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009.

The prospect conjures vivid flashbacks of my own experience witnessing such an event in Iran, days after arriving as a correspondent for the Guardian more than two decades ago.

Then, the Iranian authorities hanged a convicted child serial killer, Muhammad Bijeh, from a crane – in contrast to the firing-squad execution Hegseth envisions – in the small town of Pakdasht, about 35 miles (56km) from Tehran.

…

It was a searing and unforgettable experience that deeply imprinted on me, as a new arrival, the ruthlessly repressive nature of the Islamic republic. In many ways, that seemed the intention.

For the locals, it was an exhibition they were encouraged to attend. I clearly recall police cars touring the streets as officers inside with loud-hailers summoned the local population to watch. » | Robert Tait in Washington | Friday, October 9, 2026

Hegseth Announces Public Livestream of Firing Squad Execution

Oct 9, 2026 | The Pentagon said Thursday it will livestream the military’s first firing squad execution since 1945, allowing the public to watch as the man who killed 13 people in a 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood is put to death.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed in an interview this week to let the public watch a firing squad execute Nidal Hasan at the same base in Texas where he carried out the massacre.

“We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that there’s [sic] serious consequences for these types of things,”

Hegseth told far-right podcaster Jack Posobiec in an interview aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on Wednesday, drawing swift backlash from both sides of the aisle.

CNN senior national security reporter Haley Britzsky reports on the Pentagon's plan, and Audie Cornish rounds up reaction online and in her "CNN This Morning" Group Chat


Pete Hegseth = white trash! Only barbarians behave like this! Public executions make the West no better than any other ‘civilization’. If this goes ahead, the West will lose ALL moral authority. What a bunch of morons! Americans are such an uncivilized lot! They pride themselves on being Christians but behave like jungle folk. In fact, I doubt that jungle folk would behave so brutally and in such an uncivilized manner. — © Mark Alexander

ALSO READ:

‘Medieval’ and ‘disturbing’: US plan to livestream execution elicits global condemnation: Pentagon said execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, who killed 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009, would be broadcast live »

Firing Squad Execution Will Be Livestreamed to the Public, Says US Defence Secretary | BBC News

Oct 9, 2026 | The public will be able to watch the execution of a former US Army major by firing squad, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said. It is believed to be the first public execution in the US in almost a century.

Nidal Hasan, who shot dead 13 unarmed US soldiers at Fort Hood army base in 2009, is expected to be executed on 3 December.

"People need to understand that there's [sic] serious consequences for these types of things," said Hegseth.

The decision to livestream it is "unprecedented in the modern era" and "on uncertain legal terrain," said John Mills, a lawyer who works with inmates sentenced to death.



À LIRE AUSSI:

L’exécution en direct annoncée aux États-Unis de l’auteur d’une tuerie sur une base militaire serait une forme de «torture», dénonce l’ONU : L’exécution de l’auteur de cette tuerie qui avait fait 13 morts au Texas en 2009 sera diffusée en direct, a annoncé jeudi un responsable du ministère américain de la Défense. »

Livestreamed Firing Squad: How Can Pete Hegseth Call Himself Christian? | Lord McConnell

October 9, 2026

Pete Hegseth along with his boss are trash! Barbaric trash! — © Mark Alexander

Comment 2:

The livestreaming of an execution is utterly barbaric and in doing this, Trump’s regime is showing itself to be no better than the perpetrators of the crime! This is NOT Christianity. On the contrary, this is SAVAGERY! Surely, the Pope should speak out firmly against this BARBARISM. — © Mark Alexander

Afghan Women Protest Over Woman's Public Execution
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Dozens of Afghan women's rights activists took to the streets on Wednesday to protest against the recent public execution of a young woman for alleged adultery, which was captured in a horrific video.

The 22-year-old victim was shot dead as dozens of men cheered in a village about 60 miles north of the capital Kabul.

The execution was blamed by the authorities on Taliban militants and caused global outrage, with world leaders denouncing the Islamists, who are waging an insurgency against the Western-backed government.

"We want justice," the protesters, almost all women, shouted as they marched from the women's affairs ministry towards the UN headquarters in Kabul. » | Source: AFP | Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Iran Executes Six “Wicked” People in Public
REUTERS: TEHRAN - Iran has executed six people in public in the northeastern city of Sabzevar, state radio said on Monday, the second report of a public execution in the Islamic Republic in less than a week.

Judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi in January ordered a halt to public executions in Iran unless they had his approval, "based on social necessities."

The radio described the convicts as "wicked" people but did not say what crimes they had been convicted of nor when they were put to death. Iran usually carries out executions in prisons by hanging. Iran Executes Six People in Public: Radio >>> By Hashem Kalantari (Reporting), Fredrik Dahl (Writing), Dominic Evans (Editing) | July 14, 2008

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