Al-Qaida Threatens to Kill American Captives and Hijack Planes If Fort Hood Shooter Is Executed

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula issued a statement Monday warning that the United States’ decision to execute Nidal Hasan will mean the group executes any American captives it holds. “The day America makes this decision, it will have made a decision to execute whoever among you falls captive to us,” the group said.

Hasan, the former Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting while shouting “Allahu Akbar,” is scheduled for execution by firing squad at Fort Hood on December 3. President Trump approved the sentence; the Pentagon has said the execution will be livestreamed. An earlier message from a Yemen-based al-Qaida supporter, reported by MEMRI, suggested the execution could lead to hijackings of American planes and attacks on U.S. soldiers, referencing a 2010 bin Laden threat.

The AQAP statement also expressed support for Hasan and referenced a recent failed plot against Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport. U.S. officials have long treated AQAP as a persistent threat capable of external operations. Hasan has exhausted appeals; the Supreme Court denied his final challenge last year.

Trump administration officials have not publicly altered the execution timeline in response to the threats. The Pentagon previously confirmed the livestream plan after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described the execution as public. Survivors and families of victims have expressed mixed views on publicity, with some opposing any treatment of the event as spectacle.

Terrorist groups have issued similar retaliatory warnings for years around high-profile U.S. actions against jihadist figures. The specific timing ahead of a scheduled military execution at the site of the original attack is new. Additional intelligence assessments of the credibility of the current threats are expected from counterterrorism agencies.