Former US Army Major Nidal Hasan to be executed by firing squad, first military execution in 60 years: Details | Today’s news
The Pentagon announced on Monday (local time) that it will use a firing squad to execute Nidal Hasan, the former US Army major who killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009 in an attack the gunman later described as retaliation for US wars in the Muslim world. The execution would be the first military execution in more than 60 years.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a post on X: “Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has recommended — and President Donald J. Trump has approved — the death by firing squad by the U.S. Army for convicted terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan, the jihadist who opened fire on unarmed U.S. soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009 while injuring 132 people. In all, he killed 1,323 people. attack.” The post added: “Army Minister to set time and place of execution. Hasan’s judgment day has finally arrived.”
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According to Acting US Army Secretary Adam Telle, Hasan’s execution by firing squad will take place on December 3 at Fort Hood, Texas, Reuters reported.
The Nidal Hasan case: What we know
In 2009, Hasan, an Army psychiatrist from Virginia, reportedly shot and killed 13 soldiers and wounded 32 others at a base in Texas. The attack took place in a crowded medical building where soldiers were waiting for check-ups and vaccines. He later admitted in court that he was the shooter and apologized for “any mistakes”. During his 2013 court martial, Hasan said he believed he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan. The BBC reported that the killing on 5 November 2009 marked the deadliest non-combat attack ever recorded on a US military base.
US to see first military execution in decades
According to reports, the last time the US military executed someone was in 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was hanged at Fort Leavenworth. During World War II, Pvt. Eddie Slovik was executed by firing squad in France in 1945 for desertion.
Under military law, the death sentence cannot be carried out without the approval of the President of the United States. It must also go through appellate review, with a final judgment confirming its legality, before it can proceed to enforcement.
In 1983, the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled that the military death penalty was unconstitutional. An executive order issued by then-President Ronald Reagan reinstated it the following year.
Military executions operate in a separate system from state executions, which account for the majority of executions in the US. The death penalty remains legally available in 27 states, as well as under military and federal law.
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Execution of the firing squad: Details
Death by firing squad is relatively uncommon in the US, with a firing squad execution carried out in South Carolina last year, the first for the state and the first use of the method in the country in 15 years. There are four other states that allow the use of firing squads, including Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Utah.
Trump supports the federal death penalty
US President Donald Trump has been a strong supporter of the federal death penalty and reinstated it last year after returning to the White House for a second term. In January 2025, he signed an executive order that described the death penalty as “an essential tool to deter and punish those who would commit the most heinous crimes and acts of deadly violence against American citizens.”
The Trump administration recently expanded the methods allowed to execute people convicted of the most serious federal crimes, adding firing squads, electrocution and gas asphyxiation. The number of federal execution options was expanded in part because of the increasing difficulty in obtaining drugs for lethal injection, which also proved challenging for a variety of reasons.
