Fort Hood Massacre: Court Martial Begins

The court martial of a US soldier charged with killing 13 at Fort Hood military base has begun, with the gunman facing his victims for the first time.

Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, has never denied carrying out the 2009 attack on his fellow soldiers.

He told the jury on Tuesday: "The evidence will clearly show that I am the shooter."

He is representing himself at a trial charging him with murder and attempted murder for the attack, which also wounded more than 30.

Hasan, a US-born Muslim of Palestinian descent, had wanted to argue that he carried out the shooting "in defence of others" - Muslim insurgents fighting US soldiers in Afghanistan - but the judge has refused to accept that argument.

The judge has also said the 42-year-old will not be permitted to make speeches about his beliefs.

Many of the wounded will take the witness stand, alongside others who were inside the post's Soldier Readiness Processing Centre when the shooting began.

Thirteen people died during the shooting at the Texas base in 2009

Hasan, who was shot in the back by officers responding to the attack, is now paralysed from the waist down and uses a wheelchair.

Before the trial, wounded soldier Alonzo Lunsford said: "That man strikes no fear in my heart.

"What he did to me was bad. But the biggest mistake that he made was I survived. So he will see me again."

Another soldier, mental health specialist Shawn Manning, is also expected to give evidence.

He said: "I have to keep my composure and not go after the guy.

"I'm not afraid of him, obviously. He's a paralysed guy in a wheelchair, but it's sickening that he's still living and breathing."

The government has said that Hasan sent more than a dozen emails starting in December 2008 to Anwar al Awlaki, a radical US-born Islamic cleric killed by a drone strike in Yemen in 2011.

If he is convicted and sentenced to death, it would likely take decades before he was executed. The military has not executed an active-duty soldier since 1961.

Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

Fort Hood Massacre: Court Martial Begins

Dengan url

http://junesstatical.blogspot.com/2013/08/fort-hood-massacre-court-martial-begins.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

Fort Hood Massacre: Court Martial Begins

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

Fort Hood Massacre: Court Martial Begins

sebagai sumbernya