Criminal
A 1962 Italian-derived penal code, military courts, and al-Shabaab's parallel courts
The Penal Code of 1962 remains the formal criminal law. Enforcement runs through weak civilian courts, military courts that try terrorism cases and impose death sentences, and in areas outside government control al-Shabaab's own courts.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Federal and member state courts, military courts with broad jurisdiction, plus non-state courts in areas outside government control.
Governing law
- Penal Code 1962 — Italian-derived
- Criminal Procedure Code 1963
- Anti-Terrorism legislation and military court jurisdiction
In practice
The 1962 code is a competent Italian-derived instrument and is still cited, but describing Somali criminal law by reference to it alone would be badly misleading. Terrorism and many serious cases are tried by military courts whose jurisdiction over civilians has been criticised by UN human-rights bodies, with limited defence rights and death sentences carried out. In territory it controls, al-Shabaab operates courts applying its own interpretation of sharia, imposing amputations and executions, and those courts are used even by people outside its territory for civil and commercial matters because they are perceived as quick and enforceable — a point that says more about the state courts than about the group. Piracy prosecutions were historically transferred to Kenya, Seychelles and Somali regional courts under international arrangements. Formal criminal justice capacity varies enormously by region.