President Donald Trump has approved the execution by firing squad of Nidal Hasan, a former US Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people at a military base in Texas in 2009. The move marks the first such execution since 1961.
Hasan, who was sentenced to death in 2013 for the attack, chose to represent himself in court and provided no defense. The execution will be carried out by the Army, with the Secretary of the Army setting the time and place.
The decision reflects a shift in the Trump administration's approach to capital punishment, expanding permissible methods to include firing squad alongside electrocution and gas asphyxiation. Military executions are rare, and this would be the first since 1961.
The execution follows a pattern of military base shootings, including a 2025 incident in Georgia and a 2019 incident in Hawaii, highlighting the rarity of such events in US military facilities.