Brunei will introduce death by stoning as a punishment for gay sex from next week. The country is implementing a range of brutal punishments as part of its move to the Islamic legal system of Sharia, including cutting off hands and feet as a punishment for theft. The stonings will be introduced from April 3 and are to be “witnessed by a group of Muslims,” The Guardian reports. Homosexuality has been illegal in Brunei for decades but was only punishable by prison sentences until now. The stoning punishment will also apply to sodomy, adultery and rape. Amnesty International urged Brunei to “immediately halt” the new penalties, with researcher Rachel Chhoa-Howard saying: “To legalise such cruel and inhuman penalties is appalling of itself. She added that some of the offenses “should not even be deemed crimes at all, including consensual sex between adults of the same gender.”
