United States: UN describes live executions as ‘torture’
Keystone-SDA
The United Nations (UN) says broadcasting the execution of a man responsible for a mass killing in the United States would “constitute a form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, a UN spokeswoman said such a broadcast “would breach prohibition of torture”.
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“Failure to respect this prohibition would inevitably render the execution arbitrary in nature, and result in a violation of the right to life and the absolute prohibition of torture,” the official from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights added.
High Commissioner Volker Türk has previously condemned public executions in Afghanistan and Iran in similar terms.
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US President Donald Trump has announced that Nidal Hasan, who carried out the 2009 Fort Hood shooting in Texas that killed 13 people, will be executed by firing squad. He was sentenced to death in 2013.
On Thursday, a US defence department official said the execution would be broadcast live.
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Hasan, an army psychiatrist, opened fire at Fort Hood in an attempt to prevent soldiers from taking part in what he regarded as an “illegal” war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Twelve of those killed were military personnel, and dozens more were injured.
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Translated from German, reviewed by an English Department journalist.
