Pete Hegseth has been accused of violating international law and likened to ISIS over his proposal to livestream the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan.
The United Nations human rights office said Friday that televising the killing would be “tantamount to a public execution” and violate the absolute ban on torture.
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy made the comparison even more directly, asking during a live television appearance: “What is he mimicking? ISIS executions.”
The criticism extended across party lines. Republican Senator Thom Tillis said public executions were the kind of practice associated with “oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan.”
“It should not be happening in America,” the North Carolina Republican wrote on X late Thursday, describing the decision to stream the execution as “beyond disgusting.”
Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff told MS Now on Thursday night that the defense secretary was “a deeply unwell person who seems to relish this kind of brutality.”
Hegseth disclosed the plan during an interview with conservative influencer Jack Posobiec on Real America’s Voice on Thursday, speaking from the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln.
“We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public,” Hegseth said. He added: “People need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things.”
The United Nations human rights office said Friday that broadcasting the killing would be “tantamount to a public execution” and violate the absolute prohibition on torture.
Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, killed 12 soldiers and one civilian at the Texas base on November 5, 2009, in the deadliest attack ever carried out on a US military installation.
Hegseth’s position inside Donald Trump’s inner circle has strengthened in recent months, after he became one of the few cabinet members to support going to war with Iran in its early stages.
Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, shot dead 12 soldiers and one civilian at the Texas base on November 5, 2009, making the attack the deadliest ever carried out on a US military installation.
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The Pentagon said Monday that Hegseth had recommended, and Donald Trump had approved, Hasan’s execution by an Army firing squad. It would be the first military execution since 1961.
Murphy learned about the proposed livestream during a CNN broadcast on Thursday night, when anchor Erin Burnett told him about the plan. The senator said it was the first time he had heard of it.
“I understand that in this country we have the death penalty, but public executions is medieval,” Murphy said, calling public killings “one of the things that we abhor about terrorist groups.”
Tillis said Hasan “should face the death penalty,” but argued that carrying out the execution in public crossed a clear line.
Ossoff accused Hegseth of creating an “obscene medieval spectacle” while overseeing what he described as a Defense Department “falling into chaos.”
“The guy cannot run the military competently,” Ossoff said.
The defense secretary has also faced months of criticism over his management of the war with Iran, after Tehran succeeded in halting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway carrying one-fifth of the world’s oil.
Despite the controversy, Hegseth’s influence within Trump’s inner circle has continued to grow. He was among the few cabinet officials to support launching war with Iran during its earliest days.
The War Secretary has faced months of criticism over his handling of the Iran war after Tehran managed to shut down traffic through the Strait of Hormuz
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that public executions ‘constitute a form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,’ the same stance it has taken on Iran and Afghanistan.
Hasan, who was paralyzed when he was shot by police during the rampage, was convicted on 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder in 2013.
Army rules require the sentence to be carried out within 150 days of the president’s approval.
