United States President Donald Trump has approved the execution by firing squad of former US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who was convicted for the 2009 Fort Hood shooting in Texas that left 13 people dead and 32 others injured.
The decision was announced on Monday by Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, who said US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had recommended the execution and Trump subsequently 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.
“The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution,” Parnell said.
Hasan, who was serving as an Army psychiatrist at the time of the November 5, 2009 attack, opened fire at the military facility in Fort Hood, Texas, where soldiers were undergoing processing for deployment.
A military jury convicted him in 2013 on 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder and sentenced him to death.
The presidential approval begins the process for his execution, although no date has been announced.
The Army Secretary is expected to determine when and where the execution will be carried out.
If executed, Hasan would become the first US military prisoner to be executed since 1961.
