US President Donald Trump has approved the execution by firing squad of former US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who was convicted over the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, that left 13 people dead and 32 others wounded.
The decision was announced by Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell after Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth recommended the firing squad as the method of execution and Trump approved it.
“Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has recommended — and President Donald J. Trump has approved — death by U.S. Army firing squad for convicted terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan,” Parnell said.
He added that the Secretary of the Army would determine the time and location of the execution.
Hasan, who was an Army psychiatrist at the time of the attack, was convicted by a military jury in 2013 on 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.
The November 5, 2009 attack took place at a military facility at Fort Hood where soldiers were undergoing processing ahead of deployment.
Hasan opened fire at the facility, killing 13 people and injuring 32 others before he was arrested.
He was subsequently sentenced to death following his military trial.
The approval by Trump begins the process for carrying out the military execution, although no execution date has been announced. The Secretary of the Army is expected to determine when and where Hasan will be executed.
If the execution goes ahead, it would mark the first time the US military has carried out a death sentence since 1961.
Military executions are extremely rare in the United States, making the decision a significant development in the country’s use of capital punishment.
Hasan remains on military death row while the procedures leading to his execution move forward.
