Islamic court in Mogadishu turned over to the TNG

One of the first Islamic courts to be set up in the capital, Mogadishu, was on Tuesday officially turned over to the Ministry of Justice of the Transitional National Government (TNG), according to Information Minister Abdirahman Ibbi.

The court, better known as the Shirkole Islamic Court, was one of the first to be set up in the mid-1990s in south Mogadishu along clan lines, in response to spiralling crime rates, local sources in Mogadishu told IRIN.

The Islamic courts in Mogadishu played a dual role: operating under Islamic Shari'ah law, militia recruited by the courts were used to deal with criminals and provide protection, while the courts also handed down sentences on offenders.

Ibbi said the prisoners who had been held by the Shirkole court were transferred to Mogadishu's central prison on Tuesday. All the court's judges had been posted to the High Court "as Islamic qadis, who will adjudicate family matters", he said.

The Shirkole court's militia would be absorbed by the security services, "with some of them going into the army, while others will be trained as police officers", Ibbi added.

In June 2001, the TNG said the Islamic courts would come under the Ministry of Justice and cease to be independent entities, in an attempt to set up a functioning judicial system in the city. Most of the courts have since ceased to function independently from the TNG.

Despite attempts by the TNG to "nationalise" all the Islamic courts, a few of them were still operating in some parts of Mogadishu, especially in the north, a Somali source in the capital told IRIN on Thursday.