President Donald Trump has approved the execution by U.S. Army firing squad of Nidal Malik Hasan, the former Army major convicted of carrying out the 2009 Islamist terror massacre at Fort Hood, Texas, that left 13 people dead and 32 others wounded.

The decision, announced Monday by Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, came following a recommendation from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. The Secretary of the Army will now determine the time and place of the execution.

“Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has recommended — and President Donald J. Trump has approved — death by U.S. Army firing squad for convicted terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan, the jihadist who opened fire on unarmed American soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009,” Parnell said.

“He killed 13 people and wounded 32 others while shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ during the attack.”

“Judgment day for Hasan has finally come,” Parnell added.

Hasan, an Army psychiatrist at the time, walked into the Soldier Readiness Center at Fort Hood on November 5, 2009, and opened fire with a handgun. Twelve active-duty servicemembers and one retired servicemember were murdered, while dozens more were wounded. Hasan was shot by police during the attack and left partially paralyzed.

Hasan later said his actions were intended as retaliation for American military operations in Muslim countries. During his 2013 court-martial, a military jury convicted him of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder and unanimously sentenced him to death.

The case has spent more than a decade winding its way through the military appeals process. The Supreme Court ultimately declined to take up Hasan’s challenge to his conviction and death sentence, clearing one of the final major legal hurdles to an execution.

Trump’s approval is particularly significant because executions under the U.S. military justice system are extraordinarily rare and require presidential authorization.

If Hasan’s execution is carried out, it would be the first execution conducted by the U.S. military since 1961, when Army Private John A. Bennett was hanged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. It would also reportedly be the first U.S. military execution by firing squad since 1945.

Hasan remains imprisoned at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth. Additional federal court litigation could still delay the execution even after Trump’s authorization.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)