What happened
The US government plans to publicly broadcast the execution of Nidal Hasan, a former Army major who murdered over a dozen soldiers in a 2009 terrorist attack at Fort Hood. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced that the execution will be carried out by a firing squad and livestreamed on December 3.
Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in the mass shooting, which was the deadliest attack on a domestic military installation in US history. He was sentenced to death in 2013 and has been on death row since then.
The execution will be the first firing squad execution of a US service member since World War II. According to Hegseth, the decision to use a firing squad was a 'no brainer' given that Hasan committed murder with a firearm.
Hasan had stated that he launched the attack because he was angry about American troops being deployed to Afghanistan and wanted to protect Islamic and Taliban leaders. During his trial, he told jurors that he had 'switched sides' in what he called America's war with Islam.
