By Paul Joseph
President Donald Trump has signed off on the execution of former US Army Major Nidal Hasan, who is set to be executed by firing squad in a case that will mark the first US military execution by the method since World War II.
Hasan was convicted of killing 13 unarmed US soldiers and injuring 32 others during the November 5, 2009, shooting at Fort Hood, Texas.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell announced on Monday that US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had recommended the execution, which was subsequently approved by Trump.
Parnell said the Secretary of the US Army would determine the time and location for the execution.
“Judgement day for Hasan has finally come,” Parnell said in a post on X.
Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist from Virginia, admitted during his 2013 court-martial that he carried out the attack and apologised for what he described as his “mistakes.”
He told the court that he believed he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The attack occurred inside a crowded medical facility where soldiers awaiting deployment were undergoing medical checks and vaccinations. It remains the deadliest non-combat attack on a US military base.
Hasan is currently one of four inmates on the US military’s death row.
Under US military law, an execution requires approval from the US president, as well as appellate review and a final legal determination before it can proceed.
The military death penalty was declared unconstitutional by the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in 1983 but was reinstated the following year through an executive order under then-President Ronald Reagan.
Execution by firing squad remains uncommon in the United States. South Carolina carried out a firing squad execution last year, the state’s first use of the method and the first in the US in 15 years.
Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah are among the other states where firing squads remain legally permitted.
Trump has continued to support capital punishment and reinstated the federal government’s use of the death penalty through an executive order signed on the first day of his administration in January 2025.
The move followed a moratorium on federal executions imposed under former President Joe Biden.
If carried out, Hasan’s execution would be the first US military execution by firing squad since the end of World War II.
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