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
- JANUARY 10, 1999SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
On January 10, an Islamic court based at the former...
On January 10, an Islamic court based at the former Ifka Xalan Shaambo building sentenced Abdullahi Mustaf Salad to death for shooting dead two girls, Sadiyo Dahir Hashi, 22, and Maryam Abdi Ibrahim, 18
- JANUARY 1, 1999SomaliaDEATH PENALTY
In January, Majertein militia loyal to Mohamed Said...
In January, Majertein militia loyal to Mohamed Said Hersi, known as General Morgan, said in a statement that 9 Majertein prisoners captured the first week of January, during a round of fighting had been executed two weeks after by the Marehan Somali Natio
- JANUARY 1, 1999SomaliaDEATH 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