Brunei will punish gay sex and adultery with stoning

Starting next week, the Sultanate of Brunei will punish the death penalty of stoning adultery and gay bad, authorities said. The small sultanate will enforce the new severe penal code, which also provides for the amputation of one hand and one foot for robbery, as of next Wednesday.

Homobaduality is already illegal in Brunei and punishable by imprisonment, but it will now become a capital crime. The new sanction for theft is the amputation of the right hand for a first offense and the left foot for a second offense.

Human rights groups around the world reacted harshly Wednesday against this new step in the hardening of the law of this resource-rich country, which practices a stricter Islam than its neighbors. Southeast Asia, Malaysia and Indonesia. .

Amnesty International condemned the new rules as "atrocious" and he urged Brunei to "stop immediately" the implementation of these new sanctions. "To legalize such cruel and inhuman punishment is atrocious," said Rachel Chhoa-Howard, head of the country's human rights organization, in a statement.

"Some of the possible" offenses "should not even be considered crimes, including consensual bad between adults of the same bad," he added.

A notice in the premises of the Prosecutor General of Brunei dated 29 December of last year indicated that the provisions would enter into force on 3 April.

"We are trying to put pressure on the Brunei government, but we realize that there is very little time left before the laws come into effect," said Matthew Woolfe, founder of the Defense Group of Brunei. human rights The Brunei Project, calling on governments that increase diplomatic pressure on Brunei. "We were surprised that the government has now given a date and is rushing into implementation," said the Australian activist.

Sultan Hbadbad Bolkiah, the absolute monarch of Brunei, announced the measures for the first time in 2013, but the request was delayed so that officials could resolve the details and to oppose the rights organizations. International events included a boycott of the exclusive Beverly Hills Hotel in California, owned by the Sultan.

In 2014, the Sharia Penal Code imposed fines or jail time for crimes such as pregnancy out of wedlock or lack of prayer on Friday. Already in 2015, Brunei had banned excessive Christmas celebrations for fear that Muslims might move away. Other crimes punishable by lashing include the sale of alcohol and immigration-related crimes.

About two-thirds of the 417,000 people in this oil-rich country are Muslim and home to important Christian and Buddhist communities.

Socially conservative attitudes prevail in Asia, with Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei banning bad between men, while Indonesia has seen an increase in raids targeting LGBT people in recent years.

"It's horrible, Brunei mimics the most conservative Arab states," said Dede Oetomo, one of Indonesia's leading LGBT activists.

With information from AFP, Reuters and The Independet