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.Įven before 2014, homosexuality was already punishable in Brunei by a jail term of up to 10 years. The penalties were provided for under new sections of Brunei’s Shariah Penal Code.
SINGAPORE - New Islamic criminal laws that took effect Wednesday in Brunei that punish 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.
