Trump approves military firing squad execution after 79 years

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 9 Oct, 11:31 · Archive

Former Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan is scheduled to be executed by firing squad at Fort Hood, Texas on December 3. This will be the military's first firing squad execution since Private Eddie Slovik in 1945, when Slovik was shot for desertion. The execution will be carried out by soldiers from the military.

Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others at Fort Hood in 2009. The execution is part of Trump's broader effort to restart federal executions at an accelerated pace. During his first term as president, Trump oversaw 13 federal executions, the most under any president in more than 120 years. Trump is also exploring additional execution methods including nitrogen gas and electrocution.

The Mirror reports that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has indicated the execution will be publicly broadcast. Death Penalty Action, a nonprofit group advocating for abolishing capital punishment, expressed opposition to the execution. Before leaving office, President Joe Biden had commuted the sentences of 37 people on the federal death row, though he left death sentences in place for three men, including Hasan.

How it is being reported

• 'A nation without shame: Trump’s America prepares to turn public executions into a grotesque blood sport'OPINION: America’s grotesque thirst for executions has reached a shameful new low as Trump’s Pentagon prepares to turn a military firing squad into a public blood sport, exposing the moral decay of a nation that once claimed to lead the civilised world.The Mirror · 9 Oct, 11:09
• ‘Judgment day’? Why Trump’s death penalty crusade is bringing back firing squadsTrump is letting the Pentagon revive a killing method that hasn’t been used in decades while the president tries to speed up executions of federal death row inmates, Alex Woodward writesIndependent World · 7 Oct, 14:18

In this story: Donald Trump · Nidal Malik Hasan · Fort Hood · Pentagon · Eddie Slovik

This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem