Major Nidal Hasan was convicted on Friday of the premeditated murder of 13 people at the Fort Hood Army base in November 2009. As a result, he may be executed for his crimes.

A jury of 13 Army officers agreed on the verdict, and all 13 must agree on execution if Hasan is to be put to death. Military executions are very rare; the last one was in 1961.

Hasan initially tried to plead guilty, but the military pursued a full trial deliberately to keep the death-penalty option available. Hasan himself seemed to aid in that goal, by never cross-examining any of the 89 witnesses brought by the prosecution.

The sentencing phase of the court martial begins on Monday.

Representatives for the 13 victims released the following statement after the verdict:

Today's guilty verdict, rendered almost four years after the attack, is only a first, small step down the path of justice for the victims.

In light of this verdict, we again call on DOD and DOJ to stop their cynical "workplace violence" charade - a charade carried on despite Hasan's confessions and the mountain of evidence demonstrating that the attack was the work of an Islamic jihadist, working on behalf of al-Qaeda, who killed Americans for his "brothers" in the Middle East - and to stop denying the Fort Hood victims the Purple Hearts and medical and other benefits to which they are rightfully due.  We call on Congress and the Executive Branch to fairly compensate the Fort Hood terror victims, in all respects, as the 9/11 Pentagon attack victims were compensated.  And, we call on the government, finally, to accept responsibility for the harm done by its political correctness, spin and cover-up and to provide the victims and the American people with the truth, decency and accountability that they deserve.

The terrorist Hasan's conviction and sentencing is only the beginning, not the end of this story.  Justice for the victims of Fort Hood will be done only when the government admits its mistakes, keeps its promises to 'make the victims whole' and comes clean about Fort Hood.  The victims, and the American people, are owed nothing less.

[ABC, NBC]

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