Bendar Seri Begawan, Brunei (AP) – Brunei on May 1 embraced a form of Islamic Shariah criminal law that includes harsh penalties for being gay, a move slammed by international rights group as a step backward for human rights.
The tiny Southeast Asian nation began phasing in a version of Shariah that allows for penalties such as amputation for theft and stoning for adultery and gay behavior. Most of the punishments can be applied to non-Muslims, who account for about one-third of the 440,000 people in the oil-rich country.
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah has introduced the law as a “great achievement” for Brunei.
“The decision to implement the (Shariah penal code) is not for fun but is to obey Allah’s command as written in the Quran,” he said in a speech April 30 to announce the launch first phase of the law.
Brunei citizens can now be fined or jailed by Islamic courts for offences like not performing Friday prayers, pregnancy out of wedlock, propagating other religions and indecent behavior.
More severe punishments such as flogging, amputation of limbs and stoning for offenses such as theft, adultery and sodomy will be introduced in phases over the next two years.
Human Rights Watch said the move was a “huge step backward for human rights” in Brunei.
“It constitutes an authoritarian move toward brutal medieval punishments that have no place in the modern, 21st century world,” said its deputy Asia director, Phil Robertson.
The US-based Human Rights Campaign, which promotes LGBT equality, condemned the changes as “draconian,” saying the death penalty for gay sex, the eighth nation in the world to have such a law, was “horrific and sickening.”
