Pentagon approves firing-squad execution for Fort Hood shooter

The Pentagon has announced that former US Army major Nidal Malik Hasan will be executed by firing squad, in what would be the first military execution of that kind since the end of World War Two. Hasan was convicted over the 2009 attack at Fort Hood in Texas, where he fatally shot 13 unarmed soldiers and injured 32 others. The decision marks a major new step in a case that has remained one of the most serious mass shootings on a US military base.

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Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said on social media that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth made the recommendation and President Donald Trump approved it. Parnell said the Secretary of the Army will determine the time and place of the execution. Hasan is currently one of four inmates on the US military's death row, and military law requires presidential approval as well as appellate review before an execution can proceed.

Hasan was found guilty by a jury panel of 13 officers on 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder. The panel unanimously recommended the death sentence. During his court-martial in 2013, Hasan said he believed he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan, and he later admitted in court that he was the gunman and apologised for what he called "any mistakes".

The attack on 5 November 2009 took place in a crowded medical building where deploying soldiers were waiting for check-ups and vaccines. The case carries wider significance because military executions are rare in the United States and the firing squad is an unusual method. The military death penalty was ruled unconstitutional by the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in 1983, but it was reinstated the following year by executive order under President Ronald Reagan.

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Most executions in the country are carried out at state level, while the military and federal government still retain capital punishment as a legal option. The Fort Hood shooting remains the deadliest non-combat attack ever carried out on an American military base. It also continues to shape debate around military justice, the death penalty and the handling of violent crimes committed by service members.

The approval announced on Monday does not by itself complete the process, however, because further legal steps are still required before the sentence can be carried out. What remains unclear is the timing of the execution and whether any further appeals will affect the case. The Secretary of the Army has yet to announce the location and date, and the legality of the sentence still has to clear the remaining review process.

The case is now moving into its final phase, with attention on whether the military will proceed with the first firing-squad execution in more than 60 years.

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