USA – American President Donald Trump has approved the execution by firing squad of former US Army major Nidal Malik Hasan. Hasan was sentenced to death in 2013 for the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood in Texas in which 13 people were killed and more than 30 were wounded. The decision comes days after an attempt to execute Christa Pike by lethal injection failed.
The US military has not carried out an execution since 1961. If Hasan's execution proceeds, it will be the first military execution in more than 60 years. Sean Parnell, the Pentagon spokesperson, announced that the decision followed a recommendation by Pete Hegseth, US Secretary of Defence. The Secretary of the Army will determine the date and place of the execution.
Hasan, a former military psychiatrist, was found guilty after the attack of 13 counts of murder and 32 counts of attempted murder. He is currently on the military death row at Fort Leavenworth prison in Kansas. During his trial, Hasan admitted he was the shooter and said he had acted to prevent American soldiers from going to Afghanistan and fighting Muslims there. The attack took place on 5 November 2009 at the military base.
Pike received two doses of the lethal substance but survived and was taken to a hospital. Tennessee's Governor, Bill Lee, subsequently suspended the rest of the state's scheduled executions for this year and ordered an independent investigation.
Sources: Associated Press, CBS News, ITV News
This article is an automatic English translation of a Nuusflits article originally published in Afrikaans. Read the Afrikaans original.
