Pentagon says Hasan execution to be public, first firing-squad execution since 1945

The Pentagon said US President Donald Trump approved the execution of Nidal Hasan for the 2009 fatal shooting of 13 people, 12 of whom were soldiers at Fort Hood, according to Le Monde. El País reported that the Pentagon said on Monday that Trump gave the go-ahead on the recommendation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. US military law requires the president's approval for an execution by firing squad, according to El País. A senior Defense Department official said the Pentagon plans to stream the execution online on 3 December, El País reported.

Hegseth told the Real America's Voice program Human Events Daily on Thursday that he planned to make Hasan's execution public, although he did not specify how, El País reported. He said executing Hasan on a Thursday around 1.00 p.m. local time at Fort Hood, at the same site and roughly the same hour as the 2009 shooting, was "the right thing to do." Hegseth said: "We'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public, because people need to understand that there's serious consequences for these types of things." Asked whether Hasan had expressed any last wishes, Hegseth replied: "Don't care. We'll see him on December 3rd."

El País reported that the United States ended public executions nearly a century ago because they were deemed barbaric, and that such practices still take place in countries including Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea. The Pentagon ended executions by firing squad in 1945, El País reported. If carried out, it would be the first execution by the US Armed Forces since soldier John Bennett was hanged for rape and attempted murder in 1961, according to El País.

A military jury sentenced Hasan to death in August 2013 after finding him guilty of 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder, El País reported. In addition to the 13 people killed, 32 others were wounded when he opened fire with an automatic pistol fitted with a laser sight at a medical center at Fort Hood where soldiers were screened before deployment to Afghanistan, according to El País. El País reported the attack was the deadliest shooting in history on a US military base. Hasan, 56, was paralyzed by police gunfire when he was apprehended and has used a wheelchair since, El País reported.

Hasan defended himself at the court-martial and acknowledged the crime, El País reported. At trial he said he had "switched sides" and wanted to defend the Taliban in Afghanistan, according to El País. El País reported that Hasan has been held at the US Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, since his conviction, and that the Supreme Court rejected a petition to review his case in March 2025. El País also reported that then-president George W. Bush approved the execution of service member Ronald Gray, convicted of murder and rape, in 2008, but that the sentence was stayed by a federal court.