The London Evening Standard is facing calls to move an awards ceremony to be held at the Brunei-owned Dorchester after the country imposed new laws punishing gay sex and adultery with death by stoning.

The newspaper, whose celebrity columnist Rob Rinder urged readers to join a boycott of the luxury hotel, is due to hold its annual New Homes awards at the five-star Mayfair establishment next month.

The LGBT rights campaigner Peter Tatchell and the shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry – who have been leading a chorus of condemnation against the country after it introduced sharia laws – are urging the Standard to drop the venue.

The Guardian understands invitations have been sent out for the awards ceremony at a “gala luncheon” on 17 May. The awards, in their 28th year, are claimed to be “the most coveted in the country, giving developers and architects the chance to showcase homes and achieve recognition from the buying public”.

Peter Tatchell outside the Dorchester. Photograph: Matthew Chattle/Rex/Shutterstock

Earlier this year, it emerged a Saudi businessman with ties to the country’s state bank had bought a large stake in the Standard, which is edited by the former chancellor George Osborne and owned by Evgeny Lebedev, the son of a Russian oligarch.

Thornberry, who joined protesters outside the Dorchester this month, said: “I fully support the boycott of the Dorchester and other properties and businesses owned by the Sultan of Brunei, as a statement of our solidarity with the LGBT+ community in Brunei and our disgust at the despicable and barbaric laws recently introduced in that country.

“I would be very disappointed to see the Evening Standard – a paper that rightly celebrates the diversity and tolerance of our capital city – go ahead with this planned event, and I hope they will instead join the many other individuals, companies and organisations who have recently boycotted the Dorchester, and helped send a message to the sultan of Brunei that his hatred is not welcome here.”

Tatchell said: “I urge the Evening Standard to join the worldwide boycott of the Sultan’s hotels by cancelling its booking at the Dorchester and switching to a new venue.

“There should be no normal business relations with the abnormal regime in Brunei. It has enacted the same barbaric sharia punishments as Isis in Syria: death by stoning for adultery, homosexuality and insulting the prophet Mohammad – plus public flogging for abortion, amputation for theft, and imprisonment for exposing Muslim children to the beliefs and practices of other faiths.”

Brunei’s imposition of sharia laws, which provoked international outrage, has been overseen by the country’s Sandhurst-educated billionaire sultan, Hassanal Bolkiah, who described them as a “great achievement”.

Evgeny Lebedev and Sir Elton John in 2010. John has called for a boycott of Brunei-owned hotels. Photograph: Matt Baron/BEI/Rex

But celebrities including George Clooney and Sir Elton John are among those backing a boycott of the Dorchester Collection chain of hotels. John and Lebedev are friends, with the pop star recently backing the Standard’s campaign to help bring about an Aids-free future.

The Dorchester Collection, owned by the Brunei Investment Agency, an arm of the country’s ministry of finance, includes three hotels in the UK and two in the US, two in France and two in Italy. The Financial Times, the Police Federation, the Conservative party and the TV Choice Awards have all dropped the Dorchester as a venue for events.

Earlier this month, Rinder, a trained barrister best known for his TV show Judge Rinder, called on Standard readers to shun the hotel in his column.

“I could not be silent … when the sultan of Brunei passed laws in his country that would empower courts to sentence people to death by stoning for the crimes of gay sex and adultery. This is not a political issue – there is no other side to be considered. It is state-sponsored evil.

“The man who initiated these laws owns two hotels in our city: The Dorchester and 45 Park Lane (plus Coworth Park in Ascot). Boycotting them won’t touch the sides of the sultan’s bank account, but I would ask you to avoid them anyway.

George Osborne arrives at work on his first day as editor of the Evening Standard in 2017. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images

“These laws are the same as those espoused by so-called Islamic State. Just imagine how morally bankrupt you would have to be to attend high tea at a hotel owned by Isis. The sultan’s hotels have no place doing business in our city.”

Rinder’s comments followed another of the newspaper’s columnists, Emily Sheffield, saying she would “flatly refuse” invitations to events at the Dorchester and other hotels owned by Brunei.

“Destroying people’s jobs is not a decision anyone should take lightly. But heaping humiliation on this cruel sultan’s star-spangled investments, alongside global condemnation, may be the only option,” she wrote.

A spokesman for the newspaper was unable to clarify whether the awards would go ahead at the Dorchester.

“The Dorchester has been the venue of the New Homes awards for many years and May’s event was booked a year ago. We do of course continuously review locations for all our events and we will do that in this case for the future. As for our columnists, they give their personal views and neither they nor we would have it any other way,” the Standard said in a statement.

A Dorchester Collection spokesman said: “We understand people’s anger and frustration, but this is a political and religious issue that we don’t believe should be played out in our hotels and among our 3,630 employees. We’re deeply saddened by what’s happening right now and the impact it is having on our employees, guests, partners and suppliers in particular.”