McEntee calls on US not to go ahead with livestreamed firing squad execution of mass killer

MINISTER FOR FOREIGN Affairs Helen McEntee has called on the US not to proceed with the “shocking” public execution of convicted military base shooter Nidal Hasan.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed yesterday that Hasan’s execution by firing squad will be carried out “in public”, with a Pentagon official later saying it will be livestreamed on the internet. 

Hasan, a US Army psychiatrist, shot dead 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009.

His execution will be the first by the US military since 1961, and the first it has carried out by firing squad since World War II.

Speaking to The Journal today, McEntee said the execution is “completely contrary” to what Ireland believes in. 

“We do not support the death penalty,” she said, adding that this particular execution is intended to be “quite shocking”.

“And I think people feel that we only call this out for countries that we don’t have the same level of engagement with, or perhaps the same relationship with but as far as I’m concerned, this should not be going ahead.

“I’m not sure my words will change that, but we need to highlight this when we engage with our US colleagues that we don’t support the death penalty,” the minister said.

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“This is quite a shocking approach that’s been taken in this instance,” she added. 

Speaking about the decision yesterday, Hegseth said: “I kind of like the mentality we had in World War II, which was…when the enemy attacks you, you need to stand your ground.”

Hasan was sentenced to death by a military jury in 2013.

Twelve of the 13 people he killed, and 30 of the wounded, were soldiers. Hasan was shot and partially paralysed by a civilian police officer who responded to the attack.

Hasan chose to conduct his own defence during the trial but made no attempt to deny the charges. Court-appointed defence attorneys expressed concern that he was seeking execution.

The court that convicted Hasan was told he was opposed to the US military’s occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and that he had spoken online with an alleged Al-Qaeda figure, radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen subsequently killed in a US drone strike in Yemen.

According to human rights group Amnesty International, at least 17 public executions are known to have been carried out in 2025, six in Afghanistan and 11 in Iran. 

With reporting from Niall O’Connor and AFP