Brunei to Punish Same-Sex Acts With Death By Stoning

Lawmakers in Brunei, the sovereign state in southeast Asia near Borneo, are gearing up to introduce a new penal code that will allow death by stoning for acts of gay sex, according to the Huffington Post.

In a press release by the United Nations, Brunei's revision of capital punishment rules will include, "rape, adultery, sodomy, extramarital sexual relations for Muslims, insulting any verses of the Quran and Hadith, blasphemy, declaring oneself a prophet or non-Muslim, and murder."

"Application of the death penalty for such a broad range of offenses contravenes international law," Rupert Colville, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement. "We urge the Government to delay the entry into force of the revised penal code and to conduct a comprehensive review ensuring its compliance with international human rights standards."

According to Gay Asia News, the amended penal code will take effect next week on April 22. HuffPo notes that the country has not had an execution since 1957.

The anti-gay measure comes just a few months after Uganda's president signed a bill into law that carries severe punishments for the African country's LGBT community. First-time offenders of same-sex acts can be sentenced up to 14 years in jail and "repeated offenders" could be sent to jail for life. Nigeria recently passed a similar law while Ethiopia's lawmakers are considering the country's own version of the measure.