SOMALIA: UN RIGHTS OFFICE CALLS FOR MORATORIUM AFTER ‘HASTY’ EXECUTION OF ALLEGED MURDERER

April 3, 2014: a man was executed in the Somali town of Kismayo after he was accused of killing an elder on 24 March. He was executed by firing squad in public.
On 4 April, the United Nations human rights office voiced its concern at the “hasty” judicial process that led to the execution nine days after the crime, and called on authorities to impose a moratorium on the death penalty.
“The man was found guilty last week – it is not clear by whom exactly, but possibly not even by a court,” said Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). He noted that the United Nations Mission in Somalia, UNSOM, had urged a stay of execution, including at the highest levels within the regional Interim Jubba Administration which appears to have been heavily involved in the sentencing and execution.
“Under international law, the death penalty should only be applied after the most rigorous judicial process,” Colville added during a news conference in Geneva. “OHCHR is concerned that the hasty judicial process in Kismayo – just nine days between the murder and the execution – meant that the suspect did not enjoy full fair trial guarantees, including the right to legal representation and the right to appeal. Someone sentenced to death should also have the right to seek pardon or commutation of the sentence.”
The Office called on the Somali authorities to place a moratorium on the death penalty, recalling that the country was one of the supporters of the 2012 General Assembly resolution urging Member States to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty. “The recent executions in Somalia therefore directly contravene Somalia’s commitments at the international level,” Colville said. (Sources: ohchr.org, 04/04/2014)