Most countries had abandoned public executions as long ago as the late 19C; so I was surprised to learn there was one in the USA as late as the 1930s.
They were ghastly forms of "entertainment" of limited judicial or deterrent value, attracting large crowds even when the past, extraordinarily cruel forms of judicial killing had been replaced by slightly more humane ones.
In this case the crime was the cowardly murders of thirteen unarmed men; a type of crime sadly and strangely more common in the USA than any country, outside of political or sectarian motives. So it is right that Americans must debate the rightness of capital punishment for such crimes within their own nation, which includes states that still use it.
Nevertheless, Peter Hegseth's idea of making the execution into an anti-social media sensation for the world's ghouls is appalling, especially as the method is deliberately, revoltingly barbaric - and I fear possibly not instant. The United Nations has already, openly condemnned his proposal, calling it "torture".
We can all hope sense and common decency will prevail. So that if the man is executed, he is killed within the prison walls with no more than the absolute minimum of authorised personnel present, no other witnesses, no Press, and no photography (still or video) or sound recording allowed by anyone.
Otherwise Hegseth risks lowering the domestic and world-wide reputation of his own nation, the United States of America, towards the level of the rulers of Iran or Afghanistan; or that of the ISIS thugs placing their beheading videos on-line.
