Sen. Mark Kelly bill would ban livestreamed military executions

Arizona U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly introduced a bill Thursday that would stop the military from filming or streaming executions, as the Department of Defense planned to do.

The proposal follows Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s announcement last week that the execution of Nidal Hasan would be livestreamed. Hasan was sentenced to death for killing 13 people and wounding dozens more in a 2009 shooting at Fort Hood in Texas.

Hegseth said Hasan would be executed by firing squad in December.

However, the administration dropped the livestream plan Thursday.

Mark Kelly compares livestreamed military executions to Taliban

“Livestreaming an execution is un-American and dangerous,” said Kelly, a Democrat and retired Navy combat pilot. He compared the idea to public executions carried out by Iran and the Taliban.

The bill, called the No Public Executions in America Act, would bar anyone working for the military from recording, streaming or posting video of an execution. It would also block taxpayer money from being used to film or share footage of any federal execution unless Congress or a court approves it.

The military could still make recordings for official uses, such as investigations or court cases, but could not release them to the public.

The last widely recognized public execution in the U.S. took place in 1936. Kentucky, the last state to permit them, outlawed the practice in 1938.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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