Trump approves Army firing-squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, Pentagon says

US President Donald Trump has approved the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan by US Army firing squad. The announcement came from chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell in a post on X on Monday. The Guardian, France 24 and the South China Morning Post (SCMP) quoted the post directly.

Parnell wrote that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth "has recommended – and President Donald J. Trump has approved – death by U.S. Army firing squad for convicted terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan." He added: "The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution. Judgement day for Hasan has finally come."

The reports do not include a date or location for the execution.

Hasan was a US Army psychiatrist. He was convicted over the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, in Texas, in which 13 people were killed. More than two dozen people were wounded. The execution would be the first carried out by the US military since 1961.

Background

According to The Guardian and France 24, the shooting took place on 5 November 2009 at a medical facility on the base. The base served as a staging point for soldiers deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan. The two outlets report that 30 of the wounded were soldiers. They also report that a civilian police officer who responded to the attack shot Hasan, leaving him partially paralyzed.

According to the same outlets, a military jury sentenced Hasan to death in 2013. Hasan, a US-born Muslim of Palestinian descent, conducted his own defense. He called no witnesses, gave no testimony and made no attempt to deny the charges.

The court was told that Hasan opposed the US military's occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. It was also told he had communicated online with cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, a US citizen later killed in a US drone strike in Yemen. The Guardian describes al-Awlaki as an al-Qaida propagandist. France 24 describes him as an alleged Al-Qaeda figure. France 24, with AFP, describes the shooting as Al-Qaeda inspired. The other reports reviewed by Vocemundi do not use this characterization.

What is disputed

The reports differ on whether all 13 people killed were soldiers. The Guardian's opening line says Hasan killed 13 soldiers, but its own body text says 12 of the dead were soldiers. France 24 also reports that 12 of the 13 were soldiers. The SCMP does not specify a breakdown.

What each side says

• The Pentagon, through Parnell, says Hegseth recommended and Trump approved the execution. Parnell calls Hasan a "convicted terrorist".
• Hasan's court-appointed defense attorneys at the 2013 trial expressed concern that Hasan was seeking execution, according to The Guardian and France 24.

The reports do not include any response from Hasan or his legal representatives, or reactions from victims or their families.

Analysis

The decision would end a gap of more than six decades without a US military execution, so its next steps are likely to draw close attention. Several questions remain open. The reports do not describe whether appeals or further review steps remain, nor why the decision comes more than a decade after the 2013 sentence. They also do not describe firing-squad procedures. Depending on any legal challenges, the timeline could move quickly or slowly. Supporters of capital punishment and its opponents may read the case differently. The account of the defense's 2013 concern that Hasan sought execution adds a further dimension.

Produced by the Vocemundi newsroom with AI assistance.