SOMALI JUDGE SENTENCES MURDERER TO DEATH, CITING SHARIAH LAW

the Hiran Regional Court in central Somalia convicted ex-soldier Abdi Sabriye Barre and ordered he be shot to death for killing a man accused of thievery. Judge Sheikh Osman said that if the capital punishment is fulfilled as per his order, the Somali people would be “satisfied” with the just ruling, adding that the case will serve as a precedent for the future. It marks the first time the judiciary organ of the interim Somali government has utilized Shariah law to justify capital punishment in the country. The recently ousted Islamic Courts movement had ambitions of bringing all of Somalia under Islamic law. During their six-month rule in the second half of 2006, the Islamist rulers carried out two cases of capital punishment under Shariah law.