Brunei, a small Asian nation on the island of Borneo, has just announced its plans to punish “crimes” like sodomy and adultery with death, including for children.

The change is part of the Sharia Penal Code in the conservative Islamic monarchy. The revised statutes also include other inhumane punishments, such as amputation for robbery, and will take effect starting next week. The punishments had been delayed after they were first proposed in 2013, following an international outcry, but with the spotlight off of them, officials are now moving ahead with their plans.

Amnesty International, which fights human rights abuses, called the changes “vicious.” Here’s the group’s Brunei Researcher Rachel Chhoa-Howard:

“Brunei must immediately halt its plans to implement these vicious punishments, and revise its Penal Code in compliance with its human rights obligations. The international community must urgently condemn Brunei’s move to put these cruel penalties into practice.”

It’s telling that officials are trying to keep this change quiet. You would think obeying the will of Allah would be something they shout from the rooftops, yet these draconian measures were announced in a relatively hidden notice on the attorney general’s website. They will come into effect April 3, according to Amnesty.

“To legalize such cruel and inhuman penalties is appalling of itself. Some of the potential ‘offences’ should not even be deemed crimes at all, including consensual sex between adults of the same gender,” said Rachel Chhoa-Howard. “These abusive provisions received widespread condemnation when plans were first discussed five years ago.” … “Brunei’s Penal Code is a deeply flawed piece of legislation containing a range of provisions that violate human rights,” said Rachel Chhoa-Howard. “As well as imposing cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments, it blatantly restricts the rights to freedom of expression, religion, and belief, and codifies discrimination against women and girls.”

Amnesty is right to be appalled. To enforce a particular code of ethics upon citizens, under the penalty of death, even when both parties involved consent to what they’re doing, is unacceptably cruel. That they would execute children for all this is religious extremism at its worst.

(Image via Shutterstock)

