Somalia
2026
- GOVERNMENT
- transitional federal-parliamentary government: there is no permanent national government
- CONSTITUTION
- September 23, 1979
- LEGAL SYSTEM
- there is no national system; a mix of English common law, Italian law, Islamic law, and traditional Somali norms
- LEGISLATIVE SYSTEM
- unicameral, National Assembly
- JUDICIAL SYSTEM
- not operational: following the fall of the National Government, many regions reintroduced Islamic law and Somali customary law, with the possibility of appeal
RELIGIONS
Sunni Muslims
From the country
- OCTOBER 5, 2006SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
SOMALIA'S ISLAMISTS ESTABLISH APPEALS COURT
Islamists who control the capital and much of southern Somalia set up an appeals court to rule on the decisions of all clan-based Islamic courts in the capital.
SEPTEMBER 29, 2006SomaliaDEATH PENALTYUNITED NATIONS. UN EXPERT SEEKS END TO DEATH PENALTY FOR CHILDREN
countries where capital punishment is practiced should exempt children under 18 -- or adults convicted while minors -- from the death penalty, a UN human rights expert report said.
SEPTEMBER 22, 2006SomaliaDEATH PENALTYSOMALIA. THOUSANDS WATCH PUBLIC EXECUTION IN MOGADISHU
over 6,000 people watched the public execution of a convicted murderer in the Somali capital Mogadishu, the first execution since the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) seized power from an alliance of warlords on June 5.
- JUNE 26, 2006SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
SOMALIA. ISLAMISTS TO STONE RAPISTS TO DEATH
Somalia's newly powerful Islamists said they will stone to death five rapists, in what some fear is the latest sign of a plan to install a hardline Islamic authority like Afghanistan's Taliban.
- JUNE 19, 2006SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
SOMALIA. ISLAMIC COURT CARRIES OUT EXECUTION
the Islamic shari'ah Ifka Halan court executed Ilmi Ba Hasan Adow, convicted of murdering a man in Afgooye, southern Somalia.
- MAY 18, 2006SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
SOMALIA. MAN EXECUTED IN BELEDWEN FOR MURDER
Abdi kadir Shuriye was executed in Beledwen, central Somalia, after being convicted a few days previously of killing Ahmed Nur whilst attempting to steal his mobile phone.
- MAY 4, 2006SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
SOMALIA: MOGADISHU ISLAMIC COURT CONDEMNED FOR HASTY EXECUTION
the relatives of Sheekha Omar Hussein, the man stabbed to death by the son of the teacher he was convicted of killing, said they were not aware of the Islamic court’s execution verdict upon him.
- MAY 2, 2006SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
SOMALIA. TEEN EXECUTES FATHER'S KILLER UNDER ISLAMIC LAW
a Somali teenager killed a man convicted by an Islamic court of murdering his father in what is believed to be Mogadishu's first public execution under Sharia Islamic law in a decade.
- MAY 1, 2006SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
SOMALIA. ISLAMIC COURT SENTENCES MAN TO DEATH FOR MURDER
the Islamic court of Makkah al-Mukarramah in the Bermuda district of Mogadishu..
- JANUARY 1, 2006SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
Somalia has been without central government since 1991...
Somalia has been without central government since 1991...
- NOVEMBER 14, 2005SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
SOMALIA. SOMALILAND SENTENCES 8 TO DEATH FOR AID KILLINGS
a court in the self-declared republic of Somaliland sentenced eight people to death for killing three aid workers between 2002-2004.
- AUGUST 30, 2005ItalyDEATH PENALTY
SOMALIA. PROSECUTOR SEEKS DEATH SENTENCE IN TRIAL
prosecutors in the self-declared republic of Somaliland asked a regional court to sentence to death 10 people suspected of killing aid workers between 2002-2004.