A move by Brunei to punish gay sex by stoning to death has been condemned as “inhuman” by the UN.

The new penal code is due to be implemented on Wednesday and is in keeping with sharia law, according to the Asian nation.

In a statement on Saturday, the office of sultan Hassanal Bolkiah said the changes would “criminalis[e] and dete[r] acts that are against the teachings of Islam”.

The new punishments will also include the death penalty for people committing adultery, amputations for theft, as well as introducing whipping for sodomy, adultery or rape.

Michelle Bachelet, the UN’s top human rights official, urged the government “to stop the entry into force of this draconian new penal code, which would mark a serious setback for human rights protections for the people of Brunei if implemented”.

LGBT+ rights around the globe Show all 9 1 /9 LGBT+ rights around the globe LGBT+ rights around the globe Russia Russia’s antipathy towards homosexuality has been well established following the efforts of human rights campaigners. However, while it is legal to be homosexual, LGBT couples are offered no protections from discrimination. They are also actively discriminated against by a 2013 law criminalising LGBT “propaganda” allowing the arrest of numerous Russian LGBT activists. AFP/Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Brunei Brunei recently introduced a law to make sodomy punishable by stoning to death. It was already illegal and punishable by up to 10 years in prison AFP/Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Mauritania Men who are found having sex with other men face stoning, while lesbians can be imprisoned, under Sharia law. However, the state has reportedly not executed anyone for this ‘crime’ since 1987 Alamy LGBT+ rights around the globe Sudan Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal under Sudanese law. Men can be executed on their third offence, women on their fourth Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Saudi Arabia Homosexuality and gender realignment is illegal and punishable by death, imprisonment, whipping and chemical castration Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Yemen The official position within the country is that there are no gays. LGBT inviduals, if discovered by the government, are likely to face intense pressure. Punishments range from flogging to the death penalty Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Nigeria Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal and in some northern states punishable with death by stoning. This is not a policy enacted across the entire country, although there is a prevalent anti-LGBT agenda pushed by the government. In 2007 a Pew survey established that 97% of the population felt that homosexuality should not be accepted. It is punishable by 14 years in prison Reuters LGBT+ rights around the globe Somalia Homosexuality was established as a crime in 1888 and under new Somali Penal Code established in 1973 homosexual sex can be punishable by three years in prison. A person can be put to death for being a homosexual Reuters LGBT+ rights around the globe Iraq Although same-sex relationships have been decriminalised, much of the population still suffer from intense discrimination. Additionally, in some of the country over-run by the extremist organisation Isis, LGBT individuals can face death by stoning Getty

Her statement comes amid global outcry at the development in Brunei, which is a former British protectorate and welcomes thousands of British tourists each year.

After the actor George Clooney called for a boycott of all Brunei-owned hotels around the world, Sir Elton John said he and his husband David Furnish had “long refused to stay at these hotels and will continue to do so”.

He listed hotels including The Dorchester in London and The Beverly Hills Hotel in California, saying: “We hope you will join us in solidarity.

“I commend my friend, George Clooney, for taking a stand against the anti-gay discrimination and bigotry taking place in the nation of Brunei – a place where gay people are brutalised, or worse – by boycotting the sultan’s hotels,” he wrote on Twitter.

Brunei, a tiny patch of Borneo island with a population of 400,000 people, has long enforced Islamic teachings far more strictly than other neighbouring Muslim-majority nations such as Malaysia or Indonesia.

Under the rule of Hassanal Bolkiah, the second longest-reigning monarch in the world, the country has banned alcohol and forbids the propagation of religions other than Islam.

Wednesday will see the complete roll-out of a new penal code first drawn up in 2014. While Brunei has never outlawed the death penalty in writing it has until now been abolitionist in practice, carrying out its last execution in 1957.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has recently updated its advice for Brunei, warning of “serious penalties for doing something that might not be illegal in the UK”.