Trump orders firing‑squad execution for Fort Hood shooter Hasan
On October 7, 2026, US President Donald Trump approved the execution by firing squad of former Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Hasan, who was sentenced to death for killing 13 people in the 2009 Fort Hood, Texas shooting. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the approval followed a recommendation from Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, adding that the Army secretary will set the date and location of the execution.
This would be the first US military execution by firing squad since 1961, reviving a method the Trump administration formally added to approved execution options in April 2026 alongside gas asphyxiation and electrocution. For Nigerians, the case highlights how the United States handles terrorism‑related offenses and invites reflection on whether similar punitive measures could ever be considered in Nigeria’s own justice system.
Hasan, a US citizen of Palestinian descent, was arrested at the scene after being shot and left partially paralysed. In 2013 a military jury convicted him of 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted murder; he said he carried out the attack to stop soldiers from deploying to Afghanistan and killing Muslims. The last known military firing‑squad execution reportedly took place by musketry in November 1945.
What does this renewed use of firing squads say about evolving US capital‑punishment practices, and should Nigeria’s own debate on the death penalty for terrorism take note of such developments?