TNG and judiciary clash over amputation sentence

The justice ministry of Somalia's Transitional National Government (TNG) has opposed an amputation sentence handed down to a convicted burglar by a regional court, TNG Information Minister Abdirahman Ibbi told IRIN on Thursday.

The Banadir regional court last month sentenced a man in his thirties to have his right hand amputated after finding him guilty of stealing cash and jewellery valued at over US $20,000 from Maryan Aweys, a prominent doctor.

The court had charged the man under Islamic (Shari'ah) law, which provides for the amputation of limbs of individuals convicted of theft, a local lawyer told IRIN. He said the man had admitted to the crime, and "was sentenced to have his right hand amputated".

But the TNG justice minister objected to the sentence, arguing that the court had made a legal mistake "even under Shari'ah law", Ibbi said.

"Under Islamic law, the government has to assume full responsibility for the welfare of the amputee, once the sentence is carried out", he said.

The justice minister was quoted as saying his ministry was "in no position" to assume this responsibility. The TNG argued that "under the current political and economic conditions" in the country, "it would be a miscarriage of justice to prosecute someone without fully guaranteeing his rights under Islamic law".

The government had asked the court to set aside the amputation sentence and conduct a retrial of the accused under the "Somali penal code", Ibbi added.

If convicted under the Somali criminal code, the accused was "likely to receive a two- to three-year sentence," the lawyer told IRIN.