Editorial: Brunei’s law allowing gays to be stoned to death is a human rights disaster

The tiny oil-rich nation of Brunei implemented a particularly brutal version of Sharia law this week under which men who engage in gay sex or adultery or women who have abortions may be stoned to death. Lesbians may be whipped and imprisoned. People who steal may have their limbs hacked off.

It’s difficult to believe such barbaric and anachronistic punishments still exist in the 21st century, and that they’re being applied, in most of these cases, to behavior that shouldn’t be considered criminal in the first place. Brunei, a country in Southeast Asia with fewer than half a million people, is not the only nation that interprets Islamic law to allow for the execution of homosexuals or adulterers. So do Afghanistan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, among others. But even those countries don’t employ such heinous punishments. Stonings are rare.

This new law ought to be reversed before it is enforced. There has been a forceful outcry from around the world. The United Nations said, perhaps stating the obvious, that stoning people and chopping off their body parts amounts to torture and a violation of basic human rights. Human rights organizations and world leaders have called on Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah to immediately halt implementation of the order. Celebrities including George Clooney, Ellen DeGeneres and Elton John have joined the fray, urging people to boycott hotels owned by the Brunei Investment Agency, including the Beverley Hills Hotel and Hotel Bel-Air as well as establishments in London, Paris and Rome.

Too bad the voice of President Trump was not among the throng of critics. Not even a quick tweet, though his thumbs were otherwise busy all week as he commented on topics as varied as Puerto Rico’s ungratefulness to him and the border crisis he insists is underway.

Instead, the administration has been oddly quiet on Brunei other than a weak statement issued by the State Department on Tuesday that said “Brunei’s decision to implement Phases Two and Three of the Sharia Penal Code and associated penalties runs counter to its international human rights obligations, including with respect to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” Really? That’s awfully brief and tame from an administration that just weeks ago promised a global campaign to go after countries that criminalize gay people.

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While the sultan is one of the richest men in the world and may not care if his hotels lose money, he seems to care about his country’s reputation in the U.S. and abroad. In 2013, when Brunei first announced that it had plans to implement stoning and amputations, the news was met with opposition from around the world. Hollywood in particular snubbed the Beverly Hills Hotel and bookings dropped off noticeably. Brunei then delayed the phased-in implementation of the law, which Human Rights Watch suggests was in response to the outcry.

Then late last year the attorney general of Brunei quietly published plans on its website for the April 3 implementation date.

Brunei defends the new code, saying “apart from criminalizing and deterring acts that are against the teachings of Islam, it also aims to educate, respect and protect the legitimate rights of all individuals, society or nationality of any faiths and race.”

That’s baloney. If Brunei hopes to educate, respect and protect people’s legitimate rights, it will reverse this odious law immediately.

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