00:00Yes, an execution streamed live for the public to watch.
00:04That's what America's self-styled Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, is promising.
00:10And now Major Nidal Hassan, a former army psychiatrist,
00:13was convicted of killing 13 people back in 2009.
00:18Another 32 people were wounded when he opened fire inside Fort Hood in Texas,
00:25shouting, Alou Akbar, our God is great.
00:27Almost 17 years on, he will face death by firing squad,
00:33the method approved by the Commander-in-Chief, President Donald Trump,
00:37at the request of the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth.
00:40It's going to happen at the same place, Fort Hood,
00:43at approximately the same time, 1 o'clock in the afternoon, on December 3rd.
00:49It's actually 81 years since the last military execution by firing squad.
00:56Private Eddie Slovic was put to death for desertion during World War II.
01:01And it's been 90 years since there was a public execution in this country.
01:06But, of course, that was during the era of public hangings.
01:10I think the timing of this announcement is extraordinary, too,
01:13given that it comes with America's death penalty front and centre of debate
01:18following the botched execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee last week.
01:23She survived two lethal doses of the drug pentobarbital
01:26and is sitting up talking to her lawyers.
01:29Now, Tennessee has halted all executions in that state while they investigate that.
01:34But this is the federal government,
01:36the Department of Defence or Department of War, as they call it,
01:40sanctioning the execution by firing squad of a convicted terrorist,
01:46as they describe Major Nadal Hassan.
01:49It really is extraordinary,
01:51and it's going to take people quite some time
01:53to get their heads around this decision,
01:55given all that's going on around the debate
01:58involving the death penalty right now.
02:00David, that was just very briefly,
02:02that was another question I wanted to put to you.
02:03I mean, obviously, in the US, they are used to the death penalty
02:06in a way that, you know, we don't have it here.
02:08In Europe, and it only happened about an hour ago, less than that.
02:13What do you foresee the reaction will be to this?
02:19I think people will be very shocked.
02:21There are a number of states that do still use the firing squad
02:26as a method of execution.
02:27There were a couple in South Carolina, for example, last year.
02:30But it's been a very long time since there was a military execution
02:34by firing squad.
02:35But given that it's been 90 years since there was a public execution
02:39in this country, it's extraordinary that it's not a state,
02:43but the federal government that is ordering that this will be live-streamed.
02:47People will find it almost medieval, I think.
02:49But it really is, I think, reflective of this government,
02:53who believe that when someone is convicted of a crime,
02:56not only should they be punished,
02:58but that they should be punished to the full
03:00and that should be on full display for people to see,
03:04regardless of the fact that there is a debate going on
03:07about how effective some of the methods employed
03:10for the implementation of a death sentence is.
03:13The botched execution in Tennessee last week
03:16was the second, for example, in the space of just five months.
03:20But it feels to me a little that in the midst of the debate going on
03:24about executions in this country,
03:26about the use of the death penalty still,
03:28that the federal government under Donald J. Trump
03:31is determined to send a very clear message
03:34that it doesn't intend rowing back.
03:36In fact, it intends doubling down
03:39by making sure these things are live-streamed now.
