Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina is criticizing the U.S. military's reported plan to livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan, the former Army psychiatrist convicted of carrying out the 2009 Fort Hood massacre, arguing that the public broadcast would go too far even as he supports imposing the death penalty.

“Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do. It should not be happening in America,” Tillis wrote on his social media account.

Hasan was convicted for the November 5, 2009, shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, in which he killed 13 people and wounded more than 30 others. The attack targeted fellow service members at one of the nation's largest military installations and remains one of the deadliest attacks on a U.S. military base.

Tillis's statement draws a distinction between carrying out Hasan's sentence and allowing the public to watch it. However, his condemnation also puts the senator at odds with those who view a public broadcast as a way to demonstrate accountability for an attack that devastated military families and wounded dozens of Americans.

The reported livestream plan has raised questions about how the military intends to handle the execution and what purpose broadcasting it would serve. The debate centers on how the government should carry out a death sentence in a case involving mass murder, while balancing transparency, military procedure, and the dignity of those affected by the attack.

Tillis has not offered a detailed alternative or explained what level of public access, if any, he would consider appropriate.