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President Donald Trump has ordered the rare use of a firing squad for the execution of a former army major who killed 13 people in Texas in 2009.
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who → log → 2009
Former army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan’s method of execution was approved by Mr Trump at the recommendation of defence secretary Pete Hegseth, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said.
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Parnell → approve → Hegseth
Hasan opened fire at Fort Hood on 5 November 2009, killing 12 active-duty but unarmed soldiers and a retired serviceman and injured 32 people.
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Hasan → open → people
He was sentenced to death after being convicted on 45 counts of premeditated murder in 2013 for opening fire with a laser-sighted handgun in a medical facility at the Texas military base.
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He → sentence → base
The shooting came weeks before Hasan, now 56, was scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan.
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Hasan → come → Afghanistan
US prosecutors argued that he was motivated by unwillingness to be deployed to Afghanistan and the shooting was in retaliation for America’s wars in the Muslim world.
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shooting → argue → world
Hasan was left partially paralysed and confined to a wheelchair from being shot by police upon his arrest.
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Hasan → leave → arrest
Mr Parnell said the "judgment day for Hasan has finally come" and that the date and place of his death would be set by the secretary of the army.
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date → say → army
Death by firing squad was one of the forms of capital punishment Mr Trump’s administration recently added to the list of permissible methods of execution for the gravest of federal crimes, along with gas asphyxiation and electrocution.
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administration → add → asphyxiation
The number of federal execution options was expanded in part because of increasing difficulties in obtaining drugs for lethal injections, which had also proved challenging to carry out for other reasons at times.
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which → expand → times
Hasan is one of four military inmates awaiting execution, which requires approval from the president and an appellate review.
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which → await → president
Execution by firing squad is rare in the US, with the latest being carried out in March last year in South Carolina.
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latest → carry → Carolina
In 2024, the South Carolina Supreme Court had ruled that firing squad, lethal injection and electric chair were all legal methods of execution.
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squad → rule → execution
The court noted the firing squad was not cruel because a prisoner would not suffer longer than 15 seconds.
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prisoner → note → seconds
Brad Sigmon became the first person in the state to be executed by firing state and the first across the US in 15 years.
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Sigmon → become → years
Mikal Mahdi was executed in a similar way on 11 April.
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Mahdi → execute → April
In all, at least six people have been executed by firing squad since the US reinstated the death penalty in 1977.
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US → execute → 1977
Since 1608, at least 145 civilian prisoners have been executed by shooting in America, nearly all in Utah, according to the Associated Press.
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prisoners → execute → Press
Hasan will be the first person in the US to face a military firing squad since the end of World War II.
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Hasan → face → II
The last military execution, the Death Penalty Information Center said, was done by hanging, while the last-known execution by a military firing squad was likely carried out "by musketry" in November 1945.
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execution → say → November
Mr Trump, a supporter of the federal death penalty, reinstated the execution method on his first day back as president in January 2025.
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Trump → reinstate → January
At least five states have firing squads on the books, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
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states → have → Center
The Utah Supreme Court halted the scheduled 5 September 2025, firing-squad execution of death-row inmate Ralph Menzies.
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Court → halt → Menzies
Mr Trump's approval for Hasan’s execution comes as plans by Tennessee to execute a woman for the first time in more than 200 years went awry last week.
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plans → come → years
Prison personnel botched an attempt to administer a lethal injection, leaving Christa Pike alive but unconscious and hospitalised on life support.
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personnel → botch → support
Pike's lawyers had previously urged the Tennessee Department of Correction to consider an alternative to lethal injection such as hanging or firing squad, in anticipation of the trouble executioners would face in establishing a sound intravenous line.
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executioners → urge → line
"There’s nothing Donald Trump loves more than the power to kill," Death Penalty Action, a campaign group opposed to capital punishment, said, pointing out that he oversaw more executions during his first term than any president since Franklin D Roosevelt.
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he → ’ → Roosevelt
“Truly, this is just another distraction and a ploy to stem his record-low approval ratings."
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this → stem → ratings
The Aporia
