Brunei’s Royal Barbarity and Hypocrisy
The Times calls for action by "governments and multinationals that do business with the wealthy sultanate".
Besides the barbarity of the penalties, there is the danger that the law could nudge neighboring Islamic giants Malaysia and Indonesia toward tightening their own national or regional versions of Shariah laws targeting homosexuals.
Conservative Muslim politicians in both countries were quick to voice their support for Brunei’s law.
Beyond that, there is the fact that Sultan Hassanal enjoys his absolute dominion and his obscene treasure, including a gold-plated Rolls-Royce and a 1,788-room palace, because the world outside buys his oil.
That gives his clients — including Britain, Brunei’s former colonial master — a measure of responsibility and leverage.
That celebrities are taking action is good, but governments and multinationals that do business with the wealthy sultanate have an obligation to look for ways to persuade Sultan Hassanal and other beneficiaries of Brunei’s oil riches that they best quickly bring their laws into compliance with their human rights obligations and abandon vicious punishments for blameless behavior.
The Guardian calls for state action by the UK
Showing posts with label Shariah in Brunei. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shariah in Brunei. Show all posts
Monday, April 22, 2019
Brunei defends killing gays by stoning them to death
Brunei defends death by stoning for gay sex in letter to EU
Brunei has written to the European parliament defending its decision to start imposing death by stoning as a punishment for gay sex, claiming convictions will be rare as it requires two men of “high moral standing and piety” to be witnesses.
In a four-page letter to MEPs, the kingdom’s mission to the EU called for “tolerance, respect and understanding” with regard to the country’s desire to preserve its traditional values and “family lineage”.
The cheek of the bastards, asking the EU to show tolerance, respect, and understanding to them regarding their decision to deny both to gay men in the most violent manner possible.
The new penal code, which also provides for the amputation of thieves and whipping of people wearing clothes associated with the opposite sex, was brought in on 3 April, despite international condemnation.
But in the letter, the kingdom claimed the outcry is due to a misconception that it wanted to clarify.
“The criminalisation of adultery and sodomy is to safeguard the sanctity of family lineage and marriage to individual Muslims, particularly women,” it said.
“The penal sentences of hadd – stoning to death and amputation – imposed for offences of theft, robbery, adultery and sodomy, have extremely high evidentiary threshold, requiring no less than two or four men of high moral standing and piety as witnesses, to the exclusion of every form of circumstantial evidence.”
. . . .
The letter was sent before a vote last week in which MEPs backed a resolution by a show of hands strongly condemning “the entry into force of the retrograde sharia penal code”.
The parliament also called on the EU to consider asset freezes, visa bans and the blacklisting of nine hotels owned by Brunei Investment Agency, including the Dorchester in London, Beverly Hills hotel and the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles.
Celebrities including Elton John and George Clooney have called for the hotels to be boycotted.
. . . .
Homosexuality has been illegal since the country broke from British rule, but before the recent move to a more conservative interpretation of Islam, it was punishable by jail.
Britain, France, Germany and the UN are among those who have condemned the hardening of the kingdom’s laws.
Brunei has written to the European parliament defending its decision to start imposing death by stoning as a punishment for gay sex, claiming convictions will be rare as it requires two men of “high moral standing and piety” to be witnesses.
In a four-page letter to MEPs, the kingdom’s mission to the EU called for “tolerance, respect and understanding” with regard to the country’s desire to preserve its traditional values and “family lineage”.
The cheek of the bastards, asking the EU to show tolerance, respect, and understanding to them regarding their decision to deny both to gay men in the most violent manner possible.
The new penal code, which also provides for the amputation of thieves and whipping of people wearing clothes associated with the opposite sex, was brought in on 3 April, despite international condemnation.
But in the letter, the kingdom claimed the outcry is due to a misconception that it wanted to clarify.
“The criminalisation of adultery and sodomy is to safeguard the sanctity of family lineage and marriage to individual Muslims, particularly women,” it said.
“The penal sentences of hadd – stoning to death and amputation – imposed for offences of theft, robbery, adultery and sodomy, have extremely high evidentiary threshold, requiring no less than two or four men of high moral standing and piety as witnesses, to the exclusion of every form of circumstantial evidence.”
. . . .
The letter was sent before a vote last week in which MEPs backed a resolution by a show of hands strongly condemning “the entry into force of the retrograde sharia penal code”.
The parliament also called on the EU to consider asset freezes, visa bans and the blacklisting of nine hotels owned by Brunei Investment Agency, including the Dorchester in London, Beverly Hills hotel and the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles.
Celebrities including Elton John and George Clooney have called for the hotels to be boycotted.
. . . .
Homosexuality has been illegal since the country broke from British rule, but before the recent move to a more conservative interpretation of Islam, it was punishable by jail.
Britain, France, Germany and the UN are among those who have condemned the hardening of the kingdom’s laws.
It looks like the EU and the UN are leading on this.
The only reference I find to US reaction is some no name State Department fellow wagging a finger.
Trump, Pence, and the other heavies are conspicuously quiet.
The only reference I find to US reaction is some no name State Department fellow wagging a finger.
Trump, Pence, and the other heavies are conspicuously quiet.
Saturday, April 13, 2019
You don't say.
Facing Uproar, Brunei Says Stoning Law Is Meant to ‘Educate’ and ‘Nurture’
The foreign minister of Brunei has defended his country’s new penal code — which made adultery and gay sex punishable by death from stoning, and allows for the amputation of limbs for theft — saying the laws are meant as a deterrent.
The United Nations and international rights groups have denounced the punishments, saying they amount to torture and a violation of human rights.
The foreign minister of Brunei has defended his country’s new penal code — which made adultery and gay sex punishable by death from stoning, and allows for the amputation of limbs for theft — saying the laws are meant as a deterrent.
The United Nations and international rights groups have denounced the punishments, saying they amount to torture and a violation of human rights.
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Imagine Mike Pence got the Congress to enact the Pentateuch into federal law
And the wingnuts on the Supreme Court went along with it.
Well, Brunei.
Brunei Invokes laws allowing stoning for gay sex, adultery
New Islamic criminal laws that took effect in Brunei on Wednesday, punishing gay sex and adultery by stoning offenders to death, have triggered an outcry from countries, rights groups and celebrities far beyond the tiny Southeast Asian nation's shores.
The penalties were provided for under new sections of Brunei's Shariah Penal Code.
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah instituted the code in 2014 to bolster the influence of Islam in the oil-rich monarchy of around 430,000 people, two-thirds of whom are Muslim.
Even before 2014, homosexuality was already punishable in Brunei by a jail term of up to 10 years.
The first stage of the Shariah Penal Code included fines or jail for offenses such as pregnancy out of wedlock or failing to pray on Fridays.
But under the new laws — which apply to children and foreigners, even if they are not Muslim — those found guilty of gay sex can be stoned to death or whipped.
Adulterers risk death by stoning too, while thieves face amputation of a right hand on their first offense and a left foot on their second.
Well, Brunei.
Brunei Invokes laws allowing stoning for gay sex, adultery
New Islamic criminal laws that took effect in Brunei on Wednesday, punishing gay sex and adultery by stoning offenders to death, have triggered an outcry from countries, rights groups and celebrities far beyond the tiny Southeast Asian nation's shores.
The penalties were provided for under new sections of Brunei's Shariah Penal Code.
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah instituted the code in 2014 to bolster the influence of Islam in the oil-rich monarchy of around 430,000 people, two-thirds of whom are Muslim.
Even before 2014, homosexuality was already punishable in Brunei by a jail term of up to 10 years.
The first stage of the Shariah Penal Code included fines or jail for offenses such as pregnancy out of wedlock or failing to pray on Fridays.
But under the new laws — which apply to children and foreigners, even if they are not Muslim — those found guilty of gay sex can be stoned to death or whipped.
Adulterers risk death by stoning too, while thieves face amputation of a right hand on their first offense and a left foot on their second.
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