Bandar Seri Begawan: The Sultan of Brunei, one of the world’s wealthiest rulers, will this week oversee his country’s transition to Sharia law. Punishments include flogging, dismemberment of limbs and stoning to death.
The 67-year-old monarch declared last year that he wanted to introduce a full Sharia system in the oil-rich nation and warned critics who took to social media sites to complain that they could be prosecuted using the new laws.
The decision to introduce Sharia and reintroduce the death penalty has been condemned by NGOs and legal rights campaigners, who say the new rules will breach international laws. It has also triggered alarm among some of Brunei’s non-Muslim communities, who will also be subject to some of the rulings.
In a letter to Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, the International Commission of Jurists said it deplored the new rules, adding that, if implemented, they would lead to serious human rights violations. “Brunei has not implemented the death penalty for years, so it came as quite a surprise that the new law has reintroduced it,” said ICJ’s Emerlynne Gil.
Brunei is two-thirds Muslim and had implemented some Sharia, for civil matters like marriage. But the Sultan, who is said to be worth £24 billion and lives in a 1,788-room palace, announced to introduce full Islamic law. Offences include insulting Prophet Mohammad, boozing, getting pregnant outside marriage and “sodomy”.
