US President Donald Trump has approved the execution by firing squad of former US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who was sentenced to death for killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting in Texas.
The decision follows a recommendation by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, according to Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell. The Secretary of the Army will determine the date and location of the execution.
Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, opened fire on November 5, 2009, at Fort Hood’s Soldier Readiness Processing Center, where soldiers were undergoing medical processing before deployment.
He killed 12 soldiers and one civilian employee and wounded 32 others. During the attack, Hasan shouted “Allahu Akbar,” according to authorities and court records.
At his 2013 court-martial, Hasan was convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder and sentenced to death.
Hasan acknowledged that he was responsible for the shooting and told the military jury that he had acted to prevent US soldiers from deploying to Afghanistan and fighting Muslims. He described himself during the trial as a soldier who had “switched sides.”
The Trump administration’s approval does not mean the execution will take place immediately. Hasan can still pursue legal challenges in the federal court system, which could potentially delay the execution for years.
If carried out, Hasan’s execution would be the first US military execution since 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was hanged. It would also mark the first known US military firing-squad execution since 1945, when a military prisoner was executed by musketry.
Hasan is currently held on military death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Military executions are extremely rare, and Trump’s approval sets in motion a series of procedures required before the sentence can be carried out.
The decision also comes as firing squads and other alternatives to lethal injection have received renewed attention in the United States amid difficulties surrounding the availability and administration of lethal-injection drugs.
