US President Donald Trump has approved the execution by firing squad of former Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who was convicted over the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, that killed 13 people and wounded 32 others.

The decision was announced by Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell, who said Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had recommended the execution and Trump had approved it.

The Secretary of the Army will determine the time and location of the execution.

Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, was convicted by a military jury in 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.

The November 2009 attack occurred at a military processing facility at Fort Hood, where soldiers were preparing for deployment. Hasan opened fire with a handgun, killing 13 people and injuring 32 others.

During his court-martial, Hasan acknowledged that he carried out the shooting and said he had acted to protect Muslim insurgents from US military forces. He represented himself during much of the trial and was sentenced to death.

The Trump administration’s approval does not mean the execution will take place immediately. Hasan can continue to challenge his conviction and death sentence through the civilian federal court system, potentially delaying the process for years.

If carried out, Hasan’s execution would be an exceptionally rare event in the US military justice system. The US military has not executed a service member since 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was hanged after being convicted of rape and attempted murder.

It would also be the first US military execution by firing squad since the method was last used by the military decades ago.

Trump’s decision comes shortly after a failed lethal-injection execution in Tennessee involving death-row inmate Christa Pike. The incident prompted Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to suspend scheduled executions in the state for the remainder of 2026 and order an independent review.

Hasan is currently among four prisoners on the US military’s death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The military death penalty has historically been used far less frequently than the civilian death penalty, and executions have remained extremely rare.

For now, the Army must complete the required legal and administrative procedures before any execution can be scheduled, while Hasan retain