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Ft. Hood Shooting Suspect Trial Opens

Lauren Madow |
August 6, 2013 | 4:10 p.m. PDT

Deputy Editor

Nidal Hasan in 2007, then a Captain in the U.S. Army (courtesy By Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences)
Nidal Hasan in 2007, then a Captain in the U.S. Army (courtesy By Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences)
The trial of Maj. Nidal Hasan, suspected of killing 13 people and wounding many more during a mass shooting at Ft. Hood, Texas in 2009, began today with Hasan delivering a brief opening statement to jurors. The former Army psychiatrist is representing himself in the trial.

An American-born Muslim, Hasan has explained his actions as a response to what he has called a U.S. "war with Islam." Hasan told jurors that "evidence from this trial will show only one side. I was on the wrong side but I switched sides," according to Reuters.

Hasan attempted to plead guilty in order to avoid the death penalty, and to argue that he acted in "defense of others," meaning Muslims and Taliban members in Afghanistan. Military judge Colonel Tara Osborn denied both requests.

In a seven-page document released to Fox News, Hasan outlined the beliefs that led him to regret his participation in the U.S. military, to commit mass murder, and to attempt to renounce his U.S. citizenship. "Is Preferring An American Democracy Over Sharia'h (Islamic Governance) Permissible?...The answer is simply No," he wrote.

Acting as his own lawyer, Hasan will have the option to question the people he shot and injured,Timereported.

For more on the trial of Nidal Hasan, see Al-jazeera.

 

Reach Deputy Editor Lauren Madow here. Follow her on Twitter.



 

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