U.S. Approves Firing Squad Death for Officer Who Shouted “Allahu Akbar” While Killing 12 Soldiers

Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan will die by firing squad after his conviction for the 2009 premeditated murder of 13 unarmed servicemen, the Pentagon has confirmed.

It will be the first time the U.S. military will carry out a death sentence in over 60 years.

President Donald Trump approved the death modality following a recommendation by War Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Hasan, a military psychiatrist and former Army major, was also found guilty of attempting to murder 32 others during the mass shooting.

Background

On November 5, 2009, Hasan, who was then an active-duty U.S. Army psychiatrist, walked into a medical readiness centre at Fort Hood, Texas, where unarmed soldiers were receiving routine checkups.

Shouting “Allahu akbar,” he opened fire with a laser-sighted handgun, killing 12 soldiers and one retired service member and wounded 32 others, making it the deadliest shooting ever recorded at a domestic U.S. military facility.

Hasan was shot several times by responding civilian police officers during the confrontation, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

He was tried by a military court-martial in 2013, where a jury of officers unanimously convicted him of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.

During the trial, Hasan acted as his own defense attorney, calling no witnesses and offering no counter-arguments. He stated that he carried out the attack to protect Islamic insurgents from the U.S. military.

He was sentenced to death.

Hasan appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, alleging his right to a public trial had been violated during courtroom procedural disputes. But the Supreme Court officially declined to review his case in 2025, clearing the way for his final military execution.