UN condemns US plan to livestream Nidal Hasan's execution

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric condemned US plans to livestream Nidal Hasan's execution on October 9, warning that turning the punishment into a public event could violate the prohibition against torture.

Speaking at the daily briefing in New York, Dujarric said a live broadcast amounted to a public execution, Reuters reported. He strongly condemned a government carrying out an execution before live cameras.

He said public executions of the kind seen in Iran or Afghanistan could constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. His comments described a possible violation, rather than announcing a judicial finding.

Hasan's execution is scheduled for December 3 at Fort Hood in Texas, where he killed 13 people in a medical facility in 2009. Reuters said he would become the first person executed by a US military firing squad since 1945.