Taking an unexpected lead in the world’s most abominable laws against homosexuality is the southeast Asian country of Brunei, which will soon list death by stoning as a possible punishment for gay sex.
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MSNBC reports that Brunei recently decided it would be re-writing its penal code in accordance with Sharia law, an Islamic system that states women are second-class citizens and being gay is a sin punishable by death, among other atrocities.
The first wave of the code went into effect last Thursday. Citizens of Brunei can now be fined or imprisoned for missing Friday prayers, having a baby outside of marriage, practicing a religion that isn’t Islam and displaying affection in public.
The next phase will be even more extreme, punishing higher offenses such as pedophilia with flogging or the amputation of limbs.
The final step, which makes stoning a possible punishment for homosexual sex as well as rape and adultery, will become official policy at the start of next year.
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, also the country’s prime minister, called the law a “great achievement.”
“The decision to implement the (penal code) is not for fun but is to obey Allah’s command as written in the Quran,” he said in a speech last Wednesday.
Bolkiah also said that his government does not expect the rest of the world to agree with the new penal code but only to respect its individuality.
Brunei is the first East Asian country to assume Sharia law and the seventh to name the death penalty as a punishment for gay sex.
Ty Cobb, director of Global Engagement at Human Rights Campaign, called the development “frightening.”
“This specifically is a recent first in the sense that we’re seeing a new sharia law-based penal code being enacted in that part of the world. That said, there are other types of legal challenges facing LGBT people – primarily, in the last year, with Nigeria and Uganda enacting harsher penalties for being found gay,” he told MSNBC.
Punishing gay sex by stoning is even more despicable than Nigeria’s Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act, which punishes the support of homosexual organizations with 10 years in prison, and Uganda’s “aggravated homosexuality” law, which punishes gay sex with life in prison.
According to MSNBC, Uganda is in the process of creating a new law criminalizing non-governmental entities from supporting homosexual rights.
Homosexuality is criminalized to some degree in approximately 80 nations, the most major of which is Russia, where it is illegal to “promote” homosexuality and gay people are getting beat up while the police do nothing.
By Sean Levinson
This post originally appeared at Elite Daily. Reprinted with permission.
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SEAN LEVINSON loves writing almost as much as he loves ranting about politics. Elite Daily lets him do both, and he couldn’t be happier now that he’s finally putting his years at SUNY New Paltz to good use. When he’s not writing, Sean enjoys nature excursions, playing the guitar and the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Look for him on “Real Time with Bill Maher,” where he regularly appears in his most precious fantasies.
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Photo: AP/Dita Alangkarai