Memes, videos and recruitment materials based on convicted killer Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people in the 2009 Fort Hood mass shooting, are circulating in terrorist spaces online—despite the livestream component of his execution being canceled.

ISD’s Moustafa Ayad spoke to 404 Media about Hasan’s resurgence as a fixture in extremist propaganda after he had been mostly forgotten in Islamist circles.

“It’s already started,” Moustafa said. “We’re already seeing edited videos in support of Nidal Hasan, and they’re specifically based around how he’s a martyr and that his legacy lives on.”

Moustafa explained that a livestreamed public execution would have given propagandists more to work with in their depiction of Hasan as a politically galvanizing figure.

“Dead ideologues are continually being revered, lionized in ecosystems in support of  groups like Al Qaeda, the Islamic State, or any terrorist group. If you look at the saint ecosystems around accelerationism, it’s a similar thing in which these individuals are the vanguard of jihad.”

While the livestream component of Hasan’s execution was canceled, the impact of Hasan’s reappearance in online spaces will persist.

“He is still going to be labeled a martyr,” Moustafa said. “Will it be a public spectacle? Not anymore […] but terror groups and their supporters took advantage of the news to highlight just how much of a contribution Nidal Hasan made to their respective movements.”

The full article is available on 404 Media.