President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud attended the swearing-in of Ibrahim Idle Suleiman as chief justice on 7 November, two days after the Supreme Court said his predecessor's dismissal was unconstitutional and that the government's term had expired.
Ibrahim Idle Suleiman was sworn in as chief justice of Somalia's Supreme Court in Mogadishu on Saturday 7 November in a ceremony attended by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the state news agency SONNA reported. The Speaker of the House of the People, the first deputy speaker of the Upper House, the prime minister and the justice minister also attended.
The president urged the new chief justice to discharge his constitutional responsibilities with transparency, integrity and accountability, and stressed the importance of judicial independence, the rule of law and equal access to justice, SONNA said.
The ceremony formalises an appointment that the Supreme Court has challenged. On 5 November, five judges of the court's constitutional division ruled that the terms of the president, parliament and federal government had expired and directed political actors to agree an electoral model within 30 days and hold elections within 90, Dawan Africa reported. The court separately declared void the president's 4 November dismissal of Chief Justice Baashe Yusuf Ahmed. FTL Somalia said Suleiman is a former legal adviser to the president and a member of the ruling Justice and Solidarity Party. The Attorney General's Office has said the ruling "has no legal effect".
Baashe's appeal
In a diplomatic notification dated 6 November, reported by ChimpReports, Baashe asked foreign missions, the UN and the African Union to press for his protection. He said that within hours of the ruling the drivers and security details assigned to him and other justices had been withdrawn, that security vehicles had surrounded his residence and that National Intelligence and Security Agency officers had followed him. He said five justices had been prevented from leaving the country on 5 and 6 November, and acknowledged that reports of instructions to arrest him were relayed to him rather than seen by him. "I am not evading the law. I remain in Somalia, have not sought asylum, and have no intention of leaving the country," he said. "I seek neither foreign intervention nor an international determination of the merits of any constitutional proceeding." His allegations have not been independently verified, and CERHA found no government response to them.
Context
Mohamud argues that constitutional amendments passed in March allow him to stay in office until direct elections planned for 2027; most opposition and some regional leaders boycotted the vote and call the extension unlawful. Former prime minister Hassan Ali Khaire has accused the president of deploying troops to the court, a claim AFP could not verify, Africanews reported.
Image: President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in an official portrait, 2022. Villa Somalia, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.