Judiciary of Somalia

The Judiciary of Somalia as defined by the Transitional Federal Charter (TFC) began its formative stages in early 2007 with the swearing in of the first jurists recognized by the Transitional Federal Government (TFG).

Chapter 2 of the Charter defines Islam as the national religion and sharia law as the basis of national legislation (Article 8).

Chapter 9 of the Charter defines the scope and powers of the federal judiciary.

The new court system consists of:

* The Transitional Supreme Court seated at Mogadishu
* The Transitional Appeals Court
* Other Courts established by law

As well, a Judicial Service Council is to direct policy and administration of the judiciary, composed of the President of the Supreme Court, the Attorney General, three Judges elected from the Supreme Court, and four lawyers selected from private practice. Judges and the Attorney General would be appointed by the President. The Judicial Service Council can advise the President on matters of judicial appointment. The Council of Ministers can advise the President on the appointment of Attorney General.

Until its broader adoption, many "de facto" decisions were or still are made by local tribal meetings, or, up to the end of 2006, by the sharia courts organized by the Islamic Courts Union.

Establishing the new judiciary

On January 4, 2007, Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Ghedi attended the swearing in of the first court judges and commissioners of Banadir district recognized by the TFG.cite news
title=Somalia: Judges sworn in the capital
url=http://somalinet.com/news/world/Somalia/6446
publisher=SomaliNet
date=2007-01-04
accessdate=2007-01-15 ]

History

Beginning with the early period of independence, 1960–1962 to the fall of Siad Barre in 1991, the Somali judiciary was organized into a four-tier system, with judges selected by a Higher Judicial Council.cite web
title=Somalia: Government and Politics
url=http://somalinet.com/library/somalia/?so=0009
publisher=Libarary of Congress Country Study
accessdate=2007-01-15 ] cite web
title=Somalia: Courts
url=http://somalinet.com/library/somalia/?so=0095
publisher=Libarary of Congress Country Study
accessdate=2007-01-15 ]

* Supreme Court seated at Mogadishu, consisting of a chief justice/president, vice president, 9 surrogate justices, 2 other judges, and 4 laymen
* 2 Courts of Appeal, seated at Mogadishu and Hargeisa with two divisions: district court appeals and regional assize appeals
* 8 Regional courts with three divisions: penal/civil, assize, and labor legislation
* 84 District courts with civil and criminal divisions.

Sharia courts were discontinued, but Islamic principles were to be taken into consideration.

With the advent of the Siad Barre government, a military system of Special National Security Courts (NCSs) was added which operated outside of this hierarchy dealing with charges of corruption, murder and acts against the state. They were widely feared for sentencing hundreds to their deaths, and in October 1990 Siad Barre abolished them.

References

External links

* [http://www.iss.co.za/AF/profiles/Somalia/charterfeb04.pdf The Transitional Federal Charter of the Somali Republic] (PDF)