BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, BRUNEI: Brunei’s sultan has announced death by stoning for gay sex and adultery will not be enforced after a global backlash, but...
In this file photo taken on April 3, 2019 Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah delivers a speech during an event in Bandar Seri Begawan. — AFP: Brunei’s sultan has announced death by stoning for gay sex and adultery will not be enforced after a global backlash, but critics Monday called for harsh syariah laws to be abandoned entirely.
The move sparked anger from governments and rights groups, the United Nations slammed it as a “clear violation” of human rights while celebrities led by actor George Clooney called for Brunei-owned hotels to be boycotted. Some crimes in Muslim-majority Brunei including murder and drug-trafficking were already punishable with death by hanging under the regular criminal code — which is enforced alongside the syariah code — but no one has been executed for decades.
Whipping and jail terms, as well as severing of limbs for theft, under the new code were not affected by the sultan’s announcement.The sultan also vowed in his speech that Brunei would ratify the United Nations convention against torture which it signed several years ago. “The announcement last night gave me and my friends some relief because honestly it does make you anxious when such laws are in place,“ a 32-year-old gay man, who did not wish to be identified, told AFP.
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