{{A US military jury on Wednesday sentenced Maj. Nidal Hasan to death for the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, delivering the only punishment the Army believed fit for an attack on fellow unarmed soldiers.}}
The sentence was one that Hasan also appeared to seek in a self-proclaimed effort to become a martyr.
Hasan could become the first U.S. soldier executed in more than half a century. But because the military justice system requires a lengthy appeals process, years or even decades could pass before he is put to death.
The U.S.-born Muslim has said he acted to protect Islamic insurgents abroad from American aggression, and he never denied being the gunman.
He acknowledged to the jury that he pulled the trigger in a crowded waiting room where troops were getting final medical checkups before deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan. Thirteen people were killed and more than 30 wounded.
It was the worst ever attack on a U.S. military base.
The same jurors who convicted Hasan last week needed to agree unanimously on a death sentence on Wednesday, though the 42-year-old faced a minimum sentence of life in prison.
The lead prosecutor assured jurors that Hasan would “never be a martyr” despite his attempt to tie the attack to religion.
“He is a criminal. He is a cold-blooded murderer,” Col. Mike Mulligan said Wednesday in his final plea for a rare military death sentence.
france24
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