U.S. President Donald Trump has approved the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan, the former Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009. Hasan will be the first U.S. military member executed since 1961.
The execution, approved by Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, will be carried out by the Army secretary. Hasan, a U.S. citizen of Palestinian descent, was sentenced to death in 2013 after a military jury found him guilty of 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted murder.
The move follows a series of procedural steps and could be delayed by a habeas corpus appeal. The military has not carried out the death penalty since 1961, with the last execution being by hanging in 1961.
The Trump administration has revived the federal death penalty, with 13 executions between 2020 and early 2021. The execution of Hasan marks a significant step in the administration's efforts to resume capital punishment in the U.S.