EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Legal Achieves Centre, an independent legal research and non-governmental organization in Somalia, began tracking and gathering information on all criminal cases that were prosecuted and/ or resulted in death sentences in Somalia for the first time. All information for this report in 2024 was derived from data collected during court hearings, reports obtained from the charge sheets read by prosecution officials at the execution site, as well as media coverage provided by journalists.
No such database on the death penalty was published on any official government websites, including the website of the Supreme Court of the Country. The Ministry of Justice and Judiciary Affairs (formally named the Minister of Justice and Religious Affairs, and the Minister of Grace and Justice) has the authority to specify the manner in which the death penalty shall be carried out and to assign locations for executions as per the Article 94 of the Somali Penal Code. It is the Ministry’s Ipso facto duty to make the death penalty statistically and publicly available to the general public.
According to the Annual Judiciary Report 2024, the Attorney General of Somalia (Banadir, Hirshabelle, Gal-Mudug, and South-west) received 2,213 cases of murder or crime against life, among other offenses; however, only 393 of the accused were given by the final judgment. There is no clear information indicating the number of accused who received the death penalty out of 393 in the event of any. Should the accused be deemed guilty of homicide, the court will impose Sharia law
and Article 434 of the Penal Code by default, leading to the possibility of the person (s) receiving the
death penalty.
During the second Universal Periodic Review, Somalia received twelve (12) recommendations on the death penalty and four (4) suggestions on fair trials and judicial independence. Somalia did not adopt or implement any of the proposals regarding the death penalty. It did approve two proposals regarding fair trials and judicial independence (OHCHR, 2016).
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