US President Donald Trump has approved the execution of former US Army Major Nidal Hasan by firing squad for his role in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said the decision was approved on the recommendation of Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. He said Hasan killed 12 unarmed active-duty soldiers and a retired serviceman and wounded 32 others.
The secretary of the army will determine the date, time and location of the execution, Parnell said.
A military jury sentenced Hasan to death in August 2013 after convicting him on 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder. He had opened fire with a laser-sighted handgun inside a medical facility at the Fort Hood military base in central Texas.
The shooting occurred weeks before Hasan was due to deploy to Afghanistan. The attack left him partially paralysed and dependent on a wheelchair. Hasan is now 56.
Responding to Trump’s decision, anti-death penalty group Death Penalty Action criticised the move and opposed the use of capital punishment.
Executions by the US military are rare. Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, a death sentence handed down by a court-martial cannot be carried out without presidential approval.
