Hospital hearing orders confinement

FORT WORTH - The Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 people at Fort Hood will be confined until his military trial, initially staying in a hospital where he is recovering from gunshot wounds, his lawyer said.

During a hearing in Major Nidal Hasan's room in a Texas hospital yesterday, a magistrate ruled there was probable cause that Hasan committed the November 5 shooting spree at Fort Hood, said his civilian lawyer, John Galligan.

Hasan has been in intensive care at Brooke Army Medical Centre since the shooting.

His lawyer said Hasan had been told he has permanent paralysis. He has no feeling from the chest down and limited movement in his arms.

Yesterday's hearing was closed to the media. Officials at Fort Hood declined to comment.

Hasan has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder. Authorities have not said whether they will seek the death penalty.

Galligan said he was concerned about where Hasan would be moved once he was released from hospital, but he did not know when that would happen.

The hearing comes as new revelations about Hasan's monitored email contacts with an extremist preacher in Yemen deepen questions about whether his behaviour should have set off red flags before the shooting rampage.

He told Anwar al-Awlaki that he "couldn't wait to join him in the discussions they would be having over non-alcoholic wine in the afterlife", according to ABC News. He also asked the cleric when jihad (holy war) was appropriate and whether it was permissible if innocents were killed in a suicide attack.

- OBSERVER, AP