Somalia
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Retentionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 5
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 15
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · In January, Majertein militia loyal to Mohamed Said...
- News items in the archive
- 483
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Somalia is classified as Retentionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 5 executions in the country, against 15 the year before. The archive holds 483 news items on Somalia, from 1999 to today.
In Somalia death sentences are largely handed down by military courts, including for offences committed by civilians, and the method is shooting. To these are added executions carried out by armed groups applying a parallel justice: these are not acts of a state, but they are documented all the same.
The archive gathers both, and distinguishes between them.
Latest news
- 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 PENALTYSOMALIA. 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.
JUNE 11, 2005Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYKUWAIT. DEATH PENALTY DEMANDED FOR 34 MILITANTS
Kuwait’s public prosecutor demanded the death penalty for 34 of 37 militants suspected of links to Al Qaeda and deadly clashes with police in January 2005.
- APRIL 23, 2005Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA. THE FAMILY OF A SOMALI MAN WHO WAS EXECUTED BY SAUDI ARABIA WANTS HIS BODY - AND ANSWERS
the last time Ali Hassan Ibrahim saw his son Abdul Fattah was in 1999, when the Somali teenager left a refugee camp in Kenya to join the legions of foreign workers in Saudi Arabia.
- APRIL 10, 2005Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Saudis execute six men without sentence
Abshir Hassan, a 29 year old London man, accused Saudi Arabia of executing his brother, Abdul Fattah, and five other Somalis on April 1 without ever telling them that they had been condemned to death.
- APRIL 8, 2005SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
SAUDI ARABIA. AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CONCERNED OVER EXECUTION OF FOREIGNERS
Amnesty International bitterly commented the execution of foreigners in Saudi Arabia
APRIL 4, 2005Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA. SIX SOMALI NATIONALS EXECUTED
Saudi Arabia executed a gang of six Somali men convicted of abducting and robbing taxi drivers in the Red Sea port of Jeddah. The six men had lured taxi drivers to a remote spot where they hit them and threatened them with knives before robbing them and t
- JANUARY 1, 2005SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
Somalia has been without central government since 1991, when clans ousted dictator Siad Barre and the east African country sank into inter-clan fighting in which tens of thousands died.
Somalia has been without central government since 1991, when clans ousted dictator Siad Barre and the east African country sank into inter-clan fighting in which tens of thousands died.
- APRIL 11, 2004SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
Somalia has been without central government since 1991, when clans ousted dictator Siad Barre and the east African country sank into inter-clan fighting in which tens of thousands died.
Somalia has been without central government since 1991, when clans ousted dictator Siad Barre and the east African country sank into inter-clan fighting in which tens of thousands died.
- JULY 16, 2003SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
A court in Boosaaso, Somalia, sentenced to death four...
A court in Boosaaso, Somalia, sentenced to death four soldiers for committing murders in various parts of the region, the Somali daily Ayaamaha reported
- JANUARY 1, 2003SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
Somalia has been without central government since 1991,...
Somalia has been without central government since 1991, when clans ousted dictator Siad Barre and the east African country sank into inter-clan fighting in which tens of thousands died
- APRIL 12, 2002SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
An Ethiopian court sentenced five members of a Somali...
An Ethiopian court sentenced five members of a Somali Islamic group to be publicly hanged for killing 27 civilians in bomb attacks during the mid-1990s
- FEBRUARY 2, 2002SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
A Somali woman facing execution by stoning for adultery...
A Somali woman facing execution by stoning for adultery won a reprieve from the Federal Court from deportation to her homeland
- JANUARY 1, 2002SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
Somalia has been without central government since 1991,...
Somalia has been without central government since 1991, when clans ousted dictator Siad Barre and the east African country sank into inter-clan fighting in which tens of thousands died
- SEPTEMBER 29, 2001SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
A man who killed the driver of Colonel Tafase, an Ethiopian...
A man who killed the driver of Colonel Tafase, an Ethiopian official who is based in Baydhabo, was sentenced to death in the town
- APRIL 27, 2001SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights, expressed...
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights, expressed concern at the human rights situation in Somalia
- MARCH 26, 2001SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
The editor of the weekly "War Ogaal", Abdishakur Yusuf...
The editor of the weekly "War Ogaal", Abdishakur Yusuf Ali, was due to appear in court for reporting that two women had been sentenced to death in Bosaso, the commercial capital of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia
- FEBRUARY 27, 2001SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
Puntland police chief, Colonel Hirsi Said Farah, denied...
Puntland police chief, Colonel Hirsi Said Farah, denied news reports that two women were sentenced to death by stoning
- FEBRUARY 19, 2001SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
Two women were sentenced to death because they were...
Two women were sentenced to death because they were found to be living in the same residence as husband and wife, they were thus found guilty of "unnatural" behaviour according to Sharia law, which the Somalian Penal Code bases itself on
- JANUARY 5, 2001SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
Shaykh Muhammad Elbur and Shaykh Abdi Farah Weheliye,...
Shaykh Muhammad Elbur and Shaykh Abdi Farah Weheliye, judges of the Islamic court based at the Mogadishu livestock market, ordered the execution of Farah Warsame Halane for killing Abdi Muhammad Hade five days before
- JANUARY 1, 2001SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
In August 1998 Puntland had stated unanimously its...
In August 1998 Puntland had stated unanimously its independence from the rest of Somalia, which had been divided in 1991 into various regions under the control of rival militias
- APRIL 25, 2000SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
The Shirkoole Islamic court in Southern Mogadishu executed...
The Shirkoole Islamic court in Southern Mogadishu executed Farhan Muhammad Jama' for killing businessman Ahmad Muhammad Ali (Dhabareey), near the Baar Ubax road junction
- APRIL 3, 2000SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
An Islamic court in Buulo village in the Shabeellaha...
An Islamic court in Buulo village in the Shabeellaha Hoose Region (south-central Somalia) sentenced Neperto Muhammad Abdi to death by stoning after she was found guilty of having three husbands
- MARCH 12, 2000SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
Shireh Hasan Ahmad was executed publicly by a firing...
Shireh Hasan Ahmad was executed publicly by a firing squad in Jowhar (south-central Somalia) for killing a woman, Saynab Muhammad, in Gaaleed Village on February 27, 2000
- JANUARY 1, 2000SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
Somalia has been without central government since 1991,...
Somalia has been without central government since 1991, when clans ousted dictator Siad Barre and the east African country sank into inter-clan fighting in which tens of thousands died
- AUGUST 11, 1999SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
On August 11, a man, identified only as Kuke, was publicly...
On August 11, a man, identified only as Kuke, was publicly executed for murdering Farah Nur Labaale with a knife