Who Is Nidal Malik Hasan? Former US Army Psychiatrist Set To Face Livestreamed Execution

Nidal Malik Hasan, a former US Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people in a shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009, is scheduled to be executed by firing squad on December 3, 2026. The Pentagon has confirmed that the execution will be livestreamed, in what would be the first public livestream of an execution in US history.

Hasan, who held the rank of major, was sentenced to death in 2013 after a military jury convicted him of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. President Donald Trump approved Hasan's death sentence on the recommendation of Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. Although Hasan's direct military appeals have ended, he could still seek relief in federal court, potentially delaying the execution.

Who Is Nidal Malik Hasan?

Hasan was a US-born Army psychiatrist who worked at Walter Reed Army Medical Center before being posted to Fort Hood, a major military installation in Texas. He was due to deploy to Afghanistan shortly before the November 2009 shooting.

Hasan had exchanged emails with Anwar al-Awlaki, a US-born cleric who later became a leading figure in al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. He had also voiced opposition to the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Al Jazeera reported that Hasan had raised concerns about the treatment of Muslims in the military. During his court-martial, Hasan said he had acted to prevent American soldiers from deploying to Afghanistan and killing fellow Muslims.

The military judge rejected Hasan's proposed “defence of others” argument, finding that the alleged threat to Taliban members in Afghanistan was too remote to justify the attack. The case instead centred on the killings and attempted killings at Fort Hood. Hasan was shot by law enforcement officers during his arrest and was left paralysed from the waist down. He has since used a wheelchair.

What Happened In The 2009 Fort Hood Shooting?

On November 5, 2009, Hasan entered a medical processing centre at Fort Hood, where soldiers were waiting for medical checks and clearance before deployment. He shouted “Allahu Akbar” and opened fire with a laser-sighted handgun, killing 13 people and wounding 32 others. The victims included 12 active-duty soldiers and Michael Cahill, a retired serviceman who worked as a civilian physician assistant at the base.

Hasan faced a court-martial, the military equivalent of a criminal trial. He dismissed his lawyers and represented himself, acknowledging that he was the gunman. Prosecutors called nearly 90 witnesses, while Hasan called none in his defence and made no closing argument.

In August 2013, the military jury convicted Hasan on all 45 counts and recommended the death penalty. The sentence was not carried out immediately because military death sentences undergo mandatory appellate review. The Army Court of Criminal Appeals upheld his sentence in 2020. The US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces issued an opinion in September 2023 and a subsequent decision in March 2024. On March 31, 2025, the US Supreme Court declined to review his case.

Why Will His Execution Be Livestreamed?

On October 8, the Pentagon confirmed that Hasan's execution would be livestreamed. It is scheduled for 1 pm Central Time on December 3 at Fort Hood, where the 2009 shooting took place.

Reuters reported that Hegseth described the choice of Fort Hood, a Thursday and the approximate time of the original attack as a “no-brainer”. He said the public should understand that such crimes carry serious consequences. The Pentagon has not released full details of how the livestream will be organised.

If carried out as scheduled, Hasan's execution would be the first by the US military since Army Private John Bennett was hanged in 1961. It would also be the first military firing-squad execution since 1945. The last widely acknowledged public execution in the United States took place in 1936, when Rainey Bethea was hanged in Kentucky. The planned livestream would mark a departure from the practice of conducting executions privately.

The planned livestream has prompted debate over whether broadcasting an execution would improve transparency or turn it into a public spectacle. The Associated Press reported differing views among legal experts. Deborah Denno, a death-penalty expert at Fordham University, said livestreaming could make executions more transparent, while Elisabeth Semel of UC Berkeley Law raised concerns about the prisoner's dignity and the government's motives.

The Army has also not disclosed how the firing squad will be assembled or what procedure it will follow. Its regulations do not set out detailed protocols for specific execution methods. Officials have declined to provide further details.

Hasan's former lawyer, John Galligan, raised concerns about whether Hasan had access to legal counsel when he was notified of Trump's approval. Galligan said Hasan told him that a chaplain, but no lawyer, was present at the notification. The Army said it had made reasonable efforts to contact military defence lawyers, that Hasan's civilian counsel was not reasonably available to attend in person, and that Hasan had not been prevented from communicating with counsel.