Brunei has defended introducing the death penalty for gay sex by saying convictions will be rare because it would require two witnesses of 'high moral standing'.

In a letter to the European Parliament, the kingdom's mission to the EU urged politicians in Europe to show 'tolerance and understanding' towards its decision to bring in the punishment.

'The criminalisation of adultery and sodomy is to safeguard the sanctity of family lineage and marriage to individual Muslims, particularly women,' the four-page missive read.

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Sultan of Brunei Haji Hassanal Bolkiah has been at the centre of the storm over the introduction of the brutal Sharia laws

'The penal sentences of Hadd– stoning to death and amputation – imposed for offences of theft, robbery, adultery and sodomy, have extremely high evidentiary threshold, requiring no less than two or four men of high moral standing and piety as witnesses, to the exclusion of every form of circumstantial evidence.'

The letter also claimed that it would be 'extremely difficult to find one in this day and age, to the extent that convictions of hadd may solely rest on confessions of the offender'.

It was sent before a vote last week in which MEPs backed a resolution by a show of hands strongly condemning 'the entry into force of the retrograde sharia penal code'.

The parliament also called on the EU to consider asset freezes, visa bans and the blacklisting of nine hotels owned by Brunei Investment Agency.

London's Dorchester hotel, which is ultimately owned by the Brunei Investment Agency, has been the focus of protests since the law was announced last month.

Gay rights protesters against, anti-gay laws in Brunei, lay siege to the entrance of the Dorchester Hotel in London

The country also owns 45 Park Lane as well as Coworth Park, both in the UK, as well as the Bel-Air and the Beverly Hills hotels in Los Angeles.

George Clooney, Sir Elton John and the American comedienne Ellen DeGeneres are among celebrities who announced they would no longer stay at any of the hotels in the Sultan's collection.

It comes after the UN condemned the laws as 'cruel and inhuman' and human rights campaigners protested outside properties around the globe linked to Brunei's sultan.

Under the new laws the capital penalty will be imposed for 'blasphemy' or 'heresy against Islam'.

Those caught engaging in lesbian sex will be punished by forty lashes, while thieves will have their right hand chopped off. Repeat offenders will then lose a foot.