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
DECEMBER 24, 2020SomaliaDEATH PENALTYSOMALIA: AL SHABAAB EXECUTE MAN FOR MURDER
Al Shabaab militants in Lower Shabelle on 22 December 2020 publicly executed by firing squad a man for murder.
- DECEMBER 23, 2020SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
SOMALIA: AL SHABAAB COURT CUTS OFF A MAN’S HAND FOR STEALING
Al Shabab militants in Somalia on 22 December 2020 publicly cut off the right hands of a man after a sharia court convicted him of breaking into a shop and stealing about a 26,000 Somali shilling.
NOVEMBER 30, 2020SomaliaDEATH PENALTYSOMALIA: THREE AL-SHABAAB MILITANTS EXECUTED OVER KILLINGS
Three al-Shabaab lieutenants were on 29 November 2020 morning executed by firing squad ordered by a military court-martial.
NOVEMBER 29, 2020SomaliaDEATH PENALTYSOMALIA: SOMALILAND EXECUTES SIX INMATES CONVICTED OF KILLINGS
Somaliland security forces on 26 November 2020 executed six inmates by firing squad after being convicted of committed deliberate killings.
NOVEMBER 24, 2020NorwayDEATH PENALTYSOMALIA: THE EXECUTION OF NORWEGIAN CITIZEN SENTENCED TO DEATH IN SOMALILAND HAS BEEN POSTPONED INDEFINITELY
Only hours before the 54-year-old Norwegian citizen Saad Jidre sentenced to death was to be executed in Somaliland, he was informed that it had been postponed.
NOVEMBER 19, 2020NorwayDEATH PENALTYSOMALIA: NORWEGIAN CITIZEN SENTENCED TO DEATH IN SOMALILAND
Norwegian citizen Saad Jidre on 18 November 2020 was sentenced to death in Hargeisa District Court in the self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland.
NOVEMBER 5, 2020SomaliaDEATH PENALTYSOMALIA: COURT IN PUNTLAND SENTENCES TWO MEN TO DEATH FOR RAPING AND KILLING A GIRL
A court in the semi-autonomous Somalia state of Puntland has sentenced two men to death for the rape and killing of a 14-year old girl, Somali Affairs reported on 4 November 2020.
- OCTOBER 29, 2020SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
SOMALIA: MILITARY COURT EXECUTES MAN FOR MURDER OF SOLDIER
Somali military court on 26 October 2020 executed a man by firing squad in Luq town of Somalia’s southern region Gedo.
OCTOBER 27, 2020SomaliaDEATH PENALTYSOMALIA: PUNTLAND MILITARY COURT SENTENCES TWO ISLAMIC STATE CONVICTS TO DEATH
A military court in the Puntland state of Somalia on 27 October 2020 sentenced two men with a death sentence and jailed one other to 20 years after being convicted of being a member Islamic State group (IS) and al-Shabaab group respectively.
OCTOBER 26, 2020SomaliaDEATH PENALTYSOMALIA: AL-SHABAAB MILITANT SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER PRISON BREAK
A military court in the Somali capital Mogadishu on 25 October 2020 sentenced to death by firing squad in absentia Idle Mubarak Ibrahim, an al-Shabaab militant, over the 12 August 2020 prison break at the Mogadishu Central Prison and the murder of two peo
OCTOBER 14, 2020SomaliaDEATH PENALTYSOMALIA: KISMAYO HOTEL ATTACKER SENTENCED TO DEATH
A military court in Kismayo, Somalia, on 13 October 2020 sentenced to death one of the attackers in the July 2019 bombing at a hotel in the coastal city that left 26 people dead and injured 50 others.
- OCTOBER 3, 2020SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
SOMALIA: AL-SHABAAB PUBLICLY EXECUTES ELDER BY FIRING SQUAD
Al-Shabaab militants on 28 September 2020 publicly executed Hassan Aden Ali, 44, a renowned in Hiran, Central Somalia, using the firing squad.