US President Donald Trump has authorized the execution by firing squad of Nidal Malik Hasan, a former US Army major and psychiatrist, who was convicted of capital murder for his role in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting in Texas, resulting in the deaths of 13 people and injuries to 32 others.
A senior Pentagon official, Sean Parnell, disclosed earlier this week that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had recommended capital punishment for Major Nidal Hasan through an army firing squad, a proposal subsequently authorized by former President Donald Trump.
The military secretary will be responsible for setting the date and location of the execution of Nidal Hasan, according to a recent social media update from Parnell. The official also stated that the day of Hasan's final trial has now arrived.
The US Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, has submitted a recommendation for the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, a convicted terrorist responsible for the 2009 Fort Hood shooting. President Donald J. Trump has subsequently approved the recommendation. Hasan, who carried out the attack on unarmed American soldiers, was found guilty of killing 13 individuals and wounding others.
Reuters has corroborated the information, indicating that the presidential authorization triggers the process for implementing capital punishment under the military justice system.
In 2013, Hasan was convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder, which occurred during a war council. At the time, he had chosen to act as his own defense counsel, a decision made by the Army psychiatrist.
The defendant accepted responsibility for the attack and testified that he had fired on fellow Army members in an effort to shield Islamic insurgents from U.S. military forces.
Nidal Hasan remains incarcerated at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, a maximum-security military prison. His case garnered significant attention, including a petition to the Supreme Court, which initially agreed to review his sentence. However, in 2025, the Supreme Court declined to intervene, ultimately upholding Hasan's conviction after he claimed his right to a public trial had been compromised.
The execution of Sergeant Hasan, if carried out, would mark the first U.S. military execution in over 60 years, dating back to 1961 when Private John Bennett was hanged for his conviction of raping and attempting to murder an 11-year-old girl.
A lethal injection shooting is a rare method of execution in the United States, with South Carolina being one of the few states to utilize it in recent years. According to CBS News, South Carolina employed this procedure on three occasions in 2023, marking the first such executions in the country since 2010.
The scheduled execution date for Hasan remains unconfirmed.
