Is apostasy illegal in Somalia?
Death penalty possible
Apostasy is punishable by death in Somalia, with reports of executions by Islamist groups and local mobs, though not through formal court proceedings.
Somalia is one of 11 countries classified “Death penalty possible” for apostasy — 37% of the 30 with data. (Also searched as leaving a religion.)
Source
- Taken from
- Wikipedia: Apostasy in Islam by country
- Last checked
- 7 July 2026
- How it was classified
- Classified by a language model from the source text, then checked against hand-verified reference countries.
Nearby countries
- Yemen
- Death penalty possible Apostasy in Yemen can carry the death penalty under Islamic law.
- Eritrea
- Criminal offense In Eritrea, while there are no legal restrictions on leaving Sunni Islam, members of unrecognised religions face arrest, detention, and torture, and non-religious individuals are persecuted.
- Oman
- Criminal offense Oman's Personal Status Law annuls marriage and denies inheritance rights for Muslim apostates.
- Saudi Arabia
- Death penalty possible Saudi Arabia enforces the death penalty for apostasy under Islamic law, with active prosecution and cases such as Hamza Kashgari and Ahmad Al Shamri.
- Sudan
- Death penalty possible Sudan had a death penalty for apostasy until 2020, with notable cases including Mahmoud Mohammed Taha and Meriam Ibrahim, though the law was officially repealed.
- United Arab Emirates
- Death penalty possible Apostasy is punishable by death in the UAE under Sharia law, with hudud crimes including apostasy requiring the death penalty according to their Penal Code.
Other laws in Somalia
- Holocaust Denial
- No specific law
- Conversion Therapy
- No ban
A visual reference compiled from Wikipedia’s law-by-country articles, not legal advice. Laws change and summaries simplify — check a primary source before relying on anything here.