Hasan to be executed by firing squad, first U.S. military execution since 1961

Trump approved Hegseth’s execution-method recommendation

The Pentagon announced Monday that Nidal Hasan, who was convicted of killing 13 people in a 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, will be executed by firing squad — what would be the first U.S. military execution in more than 60 years.

Defense Department spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement that President Donald Trump approved Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s recommendation of the execution method. “Judgement day for Hasan has finally come,” Parnell said. Secretary of the Army Adam Telle will set the date and location of the execution.

Hegseth responded to Parnell’s announcement online with a single word: “Justice.”

Hasan, 56, is a former U.S. Army psychiatrist. He was convicted in August 2013 by a general court-martial panel of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder and sentenced to death.

The convictions stemmed from a shooting on Nov. 5, 2009, at Fort Hood’s Soldier Readiness Processing Center, where Hasan killed 12 U.S. soldiers and one civilian employee.

Hasan, the Virginia-born son of Palestinian immigrants, never denied being the shooter during his court-martial. He told the panel he was defending Taliban leadership in what he said was the United States’ war with Islam. The United States was at the time engaged in armed conflict with the Taliban in Afghanistan, a conflict the U.S. military described as a central part of its Global War on Terrorism.

During the shooting, Hasan shouted “Allahu akbar,” Arabic for “God is great.”

The last U.S. military execution took place on April 13, 1961, when Pvt. John A. Bennett was hanged after being convicted of rape and attempted murder.