WUNRN
BRUNEI
POSTPONES IMPLEMENTATION OF TOUGH ISLAMIC LAW AS STONING, FLOGGING +
April
22, 2014 - Brunei has postponed its implementation of tough Islamic
criminal punishments that were due to begin Tuesday 22 April and have drawn
condemnation from the United Nation’s human rights office and rare criticism at
home.
No confirmed new date was given for the start of the sharia penalties, which will eventually include flogging, severing of limbs and death by stoning, but an official told Brunei media they would begin “in the very near future”.
Brunei already has the death penalty, but has not carried out any executions since 1957.
Jauyah Zaini, assistant director of the oil-rich sultanate’s Islamic Legal Unit, was quoted by Brunei Times as saying implementation had been delayed “due to unavoidable circumstances”. He did not elaborate or give a new date.
Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, the driving force behind sharia, is visiting Singapore, and the government is believed to be waiting for the all-powerful Islamic monarch to return before introducing the sensitive legal code.
But the delay could feed perceptions of hesitation by the 67-year old sultan, one of the world’s wealthiest men, who earlier this year faced a backlash from the country’s social-media-savvy citizens.
The new criminal code will phase in punishments, including execution by stoning for offences such as sodomy and adultery, severing of limbs for theft, and flogging for violations ranging from abortion to alcohol consumption.
Authorities have in recent weeks conducted a series of briefings for official agencies and non-government organisations to explain sharia.
“When you’re trying to make such a leap, issues will arise,” said Nizam Bashir, a Malaysian attorney and rights activist, who practices both civil and sharia law.
“Once you start getting feedback, then questions will arise that will give them food for thought that will not be in line with their initial conception.”
However, he said it was unlikely the criminal code will be scrapped.
Brunei currently has a dual-track legal system of civil courts along with sharia courts handling non-criminal issues like marital and inheritance cases.
Authorities said a sharia “declaration ceremony” would go ahead as planned April 30, but gave no other details.
The sultan announced the new punishments last October as part of moves to shore up Islam in the country as a “firewall” against outside influences.
But the UN’s human rights office said this month it was “deeply concerned”, adding that penalties like stoning are classified under international law as “torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”.
Nearly 70 per cent of Brunei’s 400,000 people are Muslim Malays while about 15 percent are non-Muslim ethnic Chinese. Malays have been broadly supportive of the move by their father-figure sultan.
But users of social media, the only outlet for public criticism of authorities, attacked it as barbaric earlier this year, prompting the sultan to publicly order a halt to criticism in late February.
Situated on Borneo island, which it shares with Malaysia and Indonesia, Brunei already practised a relatively conservative form of Islam compared to its Muslim-majority neighbours, banning the sale of alcohol and heavily restricting other religions.
BRUNEI - UN CRITICISM - PENAL CODE
DEATH PENALTY & STONING - SHARIA OFFENCES
April
12, 2014 - The UN human rights office on Friday criticised Brunei's planned
introduction of the death penalty for a raft of new offences, as part of a
shift to harsh Islamic punishments in the oil-rich sultanate.
"We
are deeply concerned about the revised penal code in Brunei Darussalam, due to
come into force later this month, which stipulates the death penalty for
numerous offences," said Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN high
commissioner for human rights.
He told reporters these offences include rape, adultery, sodomy, extramarital sexual relations for Muslims, but also crimes such as robbery and murder.
The death sentence could also be imposed for defamation of the Prophet Mohammed, insulting any verses of the Koran and Hadith, blasphemy, and declaring oneself a prophet or non-Muslim, he said.
"Application of the death penalty for such a broad range of offences contravenes international law," he added.
Brunei has not carried out any executions since 1957, but Colville said that rather than adding new capital crimes to its books, the sultanate should be working to abolish the death penalty outright.
Brunei's all-powerful Sultan, Hassanal Bolkiah, announced last October that the country would phase in Islamic sharia law punishments such as flogging and death by stoning.
The new criminal code, expected to enter into force on April 22, also introduces stoning to death as the specific method of execution for rape, adultery, sodomy and extramarital sexual relations.
Colville said that international law classified stoning as "torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment", meaning it is banned under global human rights treaties.
UN studies have shown that women are more likely to be sentenced to death by stoning, due to entrenched discrimination and stereotyping in the justice system, he noted.
Criminalising consensual sex between adults, let alone applying the death penalty for it, breaches a series of rights, while the new code also violates freedom of religion, opinion and expression, Colville added.
Brunei practices a more conservative form of Islam than neighbouring Malaysia and Indonesia, banning the sale and public consumption of alcohol and closely restricting other religions.
The sultan has advocated the strengthening of Islam in the country, against what he calls potentially harmful outside influences, recently calling his Islamic monarchy a "firewall" against globalisation.
Officials have previously said sharia cases would require an extremely high burden of proof and judges would have wide discretion applying it.