UN says Pentagon plan to livestream execution of Fort Hood shooter would amount to torture – US politics live

Condemnation comes amid fierce backlash from US lawmakers who branded the move ‘grotesque’ and compared it to actions of some terror groups and oppressive governments

• Analysis: Plan to livestream execution puts US in dubious company

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In a statement to the Guardian, Robin M. Maher, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said that her group is “not aware of any regulation or precedent for a military execution to be live streamed on the internet or otherwise made widely available to the public”.

She added that “public executions are typically held in authoritarian countries to instil fear in the population, and to show the power and control of the government.”