The US government has approved the execution of convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan by an Army firing squad, the Pentagon said on Monday.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth recommended the execution and US President Donald Trump approved it. The Secretary of the Army will determine the date and location of the execution.
Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist and major, opened fire at Fort Hood, Texas, on November 5 2009, killing 13 people and wounding 32.
A military jury convicted Hasan of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder and sentenced him to death.
During the trial, Army prosecutor Colonel Steve Henricks said Hasan had created his own “personal kill zone” at the base.
The first firing squad execution since WW2
The planned execution would mark a rare moment in US military justice. The last US soldier executed by firing squad was Army Private Eddie Slovik, who was executed in 1945 for desertion during World War II.
The US Army's most recent execution was that of Private John Bennett, who was hanged to death in 1961.
Parnell said the recommendation had been made because “the day of reckoning has finally come” for Hasan.
