UN calls US plans to livestream execution 'abhorrent'
UN officials warn that broadcasting the US military firing squad execution could amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and violate the prohibition against torture.
The United Nations has condemned US plans to livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan, the gunman convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood military base in 2009, calling the move "abhorrent" and warning it could violate the prohibition against torture.
"Public executions constitute a form of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment," Shabia Mantoo, spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office, said during a press conference in Geneva.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric also criticised the plan during a daily briefing in New York on Friday, reports Reuters.
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"Showing it live is tantamount to it being public, and could be a violation of the prohibition against torture," he said, adding that a government executing someone in public or in front of live cameras was "abhorrent".
Dujarric cited public executions in countries including Iran and Afghanistan as examples of practices that could constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Hasan is scheduled to be executed by firing squad on 3 December at Fort Hood, the sprawling Texas military base where he opened fire with a handgun inside a medical facility.
He is set to become the first person executed by a US military firing squad since 1945.
