Man to face firing squad in first US military execution in 60 years

The United States military is set to execute former Army Major Nidal Hasan by firing squad, marking the first military execution in more than six decades.

According to the BBC, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth recommended the execution and President Donald Trump approved it.

The execution is scheduled for December 3 at Fort Hood, Texas, according to the US Army. It would be the first military firing-squad execution since World War Two.

“Judgement day for Hasan has finally come,” Parnell wrote on X.

Hasan, an Army psychiatrist from Virginia, killed 13 unarmed soldiers and wounded 32 others at Fort Hood on November 5, 2009. He later admitted being the gunman during his 2013 court-martial.

Hasan said he believed he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan. The attack, carried out at a crowded medical facility, was the deadliest non-combat attack on a US military base.

He is among four inmates on military death row.

Military executions require presidential approval, appellate review and a final legal judgment. Firing-squad executions remain rare in the US, with only a handful of states permitting the method.