WASHINGTON, United States: US President Donald Trump has approved the execution by firing squad of Nidal Hasan, the former US Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people in a 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas.
The Pentagon confirmed that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth recommended the execution method and Trump approved the decision. The US Army will determine the time and location of the execution.
“Judgement day for Hasan has finally come,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement on social media.
First military execution since 1961
Hasan’s execution would be the first carried out by the US military since 1961. He was sentenced to death by a military jury in 2013 after being found guilty of the 2009 attack.
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During his trial, Hasan represented himself, called no witnesses and did not testify. Court-appointed defence lawyers had expressed concerns that he was seeking a death sentence.
Fort Hood attack
Hasan opened fire on November 5, 2009, at a medical facility inside Fort Hood, a major US Army installation used as a staging base for troops deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Twelve soldiers and one civilian were killed, while more than 30 others were wounded. Hasan was shot and seriously injured by a civilian police officer who responded to the attack.
Prosecutors told the court that Hasan had opposed US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and had communicated online with Anwar al-Awlaki, an Al-Qaeda-linked cleric who was later killed in a US drone strike in Yemen.
Military base shootings remain rare
Although mass shootings are frequent in the United States, attacks at military installations remain relatively uncommon.
Recent incidents include a 2025 shooting at a US military base in Georgia that wounded five soldiers, a 2019 attack at a naval facility in Hawaii, and a 2015 attack in Tennessee that killed four Marines and a sailor.
