By Alasdair Pal
Oct 9 (Reuters) – New Zealand’s national censor said on Friday it would not have the authority to block internet users in the country from accessing a livestream of the execution of a former Army major planned by the US, as rights groups pressed governments to protest.
Nidal Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others at the Fort Hood military base in Texas in 2009.
The Pentagon said on Thursday Hasan’s December 3 execution by firing squad in Texas would be livestreamed, in what would be an unprecedented broadcast of a US execution.
The decision is likely to draw scrutiny from governments around the world amid mounting efforts to protect young people in particular from harmful internet content.
One of the first countries to react was New Zealand, where the Classification Office, an independent government body, highlighted difficulties in restricting access to such material during a live internet broadcast.
“The Classification Office cannot classify a livestream event as it is taking place, and we, nor any other body, has the authority to block access to a livestream event,” a spokesperson for New Zealand’s Classification Office said in a statement.
New Zealand Chief Censor Caroline Flora said the threshold for banning content under New Zealand law was high and required balancing freedom of expression with the likelihood of harm.
“Distressing as content may be, it is not always unlawful,” she said, adding that she could not speculate on the likely classification of something before it exists.
Other agencies such as online safety organisation Netsafe may provide information and advice as more details emerge, she added.
The New Zealand government didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
RESONANCE
The news has additional resonance in New Zealand, where a gunman killed 51 people at two mosques in 2019, livestreaming his crimes on Facebook.
The country has since been at the forefront of combating violent content online, with then-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern launching a global campaign on the issue months after the attack.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Hasan’s execution by firing squad was a “no-brainer”, adding that people need to understand there are “serious consequences for these types of things.”
Under US military law, a US president must approve an execution. President Donald Trump did so on Hegseth’s recommendation, the Pentagon said on Monday.
The White House declined to say whether Trump supported the livestreaming, referring questions to the Pentagon.
Public executions have become exceedingly rare worldwide. Among countries known to conduct them in recent years are Iran and Taliban-run Afghanistan.
The decision was criticised by rights groups, with Amnesty International Australia urging Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to press the US to reverse its decision.
“The suggestion that an execution by firing squad should be livestreamed for public viewing is an appalling disregard for human dignity,” said Kyinzom Dhongdue, a campaign manager at the rights group.
“Turning a state-sanctioned killing into a public spectacle only compounds the cruelty of the death penalty.”
A spokesperson for Australia’s foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Alasdair Pal and Renju Jose in Sydney; editing by Lincoln Feast and Neil Fullick)
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