More than 60 soldiers have stated they don’t want to be involved in the livestreamed firing squad execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, according to a religious freedom organization that assists members of the U.S. military.
Mikey Weinstein, founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, told WTOP he expects up to 180 soldiers stationed at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, will ultimately seek guidance to avoid being a member of the team that will execute Hasan at 1 p.m. on Dec. 3, on the basis of their religious beliefs.
Last week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the execution will be livestreamed.
Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people in the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood.
As an Army psychiatrist, Hasan walked into a medical building where soldiers were getting medical checkups, shouted “Allahu akbar” — Arabic for “God is great!” — and opened fire with a laser-sighted handgun. Thirteen people were killed and more than 30 injured.
Weinstein said a wide variety of soldiers have expressed their religious objections to being part of a livestreamed spectacle.
“It’s one thing to carry out an order of execution. It’s quite another to have it streamed, where every second grader, at this stage in 2026, with the ability to get to the internet, can watch it happen,” Weinstein said. “It’s grotesque and barbaric.”
Weinstein said none of the soldiers who have sought guidance have been selected, “but they are vulnerable, in that they are in an MOS, or military occupational specialty, that is type that could be picked to be on this firing squad.”
“Most of them that have come to us are Christians, but we have Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, we have agnostics and atheists — they feel this is an example of the sinful pride of execution,” Weinstein said.
WTOP sought, but got no new details from the Pentagon about when and how members of the firing squad will be selected.
While all members of the military could be asked to fire a weapon, Weinstein said participating in an execution isn’t the same.
“If you’re told to take that hill, or attack that ship in a state of war, that’s very different than when you’re wheeling out a man in a wheelchair, putting him up against the wall and then shooting him to death,” he said.
Weinstein said there hasn’t been a public execution in the United States since the 1930s, and the last military execution was in 1961.
“It’s going to provide basically the dream of all dreams to Nidal Hasan to die as a martyr,” Weinstein said. “It will provide a propaganda bonanza of immense proportions to Boko Haram, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, ISIS and the Taliban.”
Weinstein said he believes livestreaming an execution “is violative of the humanity and compassion, and no doubt the Constitution and legality.”
Legal experts say it appears there’s a narrow path to challenge the livestreamed execution.
Weinstein said there are two things soldiers opposed to participating in the execution can do.
“One, they can file an accommodation under the religious procedures of the Army, indicating that this is violating a sincerely held belief that they have,” he said. “The second is to file a Uniform Code of Military Justice, Article 138 complaint against their commanders, saying they’re being terribly aggrieved by their commanders, and they want relief.”
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