US President Donald Trump has approved a firing squad execution for former Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan, who was sentenced to death for killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009.
Hasan, a US citizen of Palestinian descent, would become the first US soldier to be executed by the US military in more than 60 years if the order is carried out.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said on Monday that Hasan would be executed by firing squad following a recommendation from Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and approval from Trump.
The Army secretary will decide the time and location of the execution, Parnell said.
“Judgement day for Hasan has finally come,” Parnell wrote on X.
Hasan was sentenced to death in August 2013 after a military jury found him guilty of 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted murder.
He opened fire with a handgun inside a medical facility at the Texas military base, killing 12 unarmed active-duty soldiers and a retired serviceman.
Another 32 people were wounded in the attack.
Police arrested Hasan at the scene after shooting him, leaving him partially paralysed.
The shooting happened weeks before Hasan was due to deploy to Afghanistan.
During his court-martial, Hasan said the attack was an attempt to prevent the soldiers from going to Afghanistan and killing fellow Muslims.
He made almost no effort to defend himself during the proceedings.
The Trump administration added death by firing squad as an approved method of execution in April, alongside gas asphyxiation and electrocution.
Military executions are extremely rare in the US and can only be approved by the president under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
If Hasan’s execution is carried out, he will be the first member of the US military to be executed since 1961.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the 1961 execution was carried out by hanging.
The centre said the last known execution of a US military prisoner by firing squad was carried out “by musketry” in November 1945.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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