Trump blocks military execution livestreaming

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the execution of the Fort Hood gunman would not be livestreamed, but that immediate families of the victims would be able to view it in person.

Nidal Hasan's execution - scheduled for Dec 3 at Fort Hood, Texas, where he gunned down 13 people in 2009 - is set to be the first by a US military firing squad since 1945.

"I think streaming the execution for all to see might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan but, many very good and well-meaning people would rather not watch him die through streaming or through any other visual device," Trump wrote.

"He will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed. That said, the execution may be viewed in person by the immediate families of the victims, if they so choose. They deserve to witness JUSTICE!"

Some of Trump's fellow Republicans, including Vice President JD Vance, as well as religious leaders and international observers, had expressed doubts about the Pentagon's plan to livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan.

Recent polls have also shown a majority of Americans opposed livestreaming it.

The United Nations said streaming the execution would amount to "torture," while the president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops said it was a "barbaric promotion of a culture of death," and both Australia and Britain's prime ministers described it as "abhorrent"