Country tries to pass law to stone gay people
Brunei implements stoning to death under anti-LGBT laws
Brunei is introducing strict novel Islamic laws that produce anal sex and adultery offences punishable by stoning to death.
The novel measures, that come into force on Wednesday, also cover a range of other crimes including punishment for theft by amputation.
The move has sparked international condemnation.
Brunei's gay community has expressed shock and avoid at the "medieval punishments".
"You wake up and realise that your neighbours, your family or even that nice old lady that sells prawn fritters by the side of the road doesn't think you're human, or is okay with stoning," one Bruneian gay man, who did not want to be identified, told the BBC.
The sultan of the small South-East Asian nation on Wednesday called for "stronger" Islamic teachings.
"I long to see Islamic teachings in this country flourish stronger," Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah said in a general address, according to AFP news agency, without mentioning the strict new understanding of Sharia, or Islamic law.
Homosexuality was already illegal in Brunei and punishable by up to 10 y
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Last updated: 29 July 2025
Types of criminalisation
- Criminalises LGBT people
- Criminalises sexual activity between males
Summary
Same-sex sexual activity is prohibited under the Criminal Code 1960, which criminalises acts of ‘unnatural carnal knowledge’. This provision carries a maximum penalty of three years’ imprisonment. Only men are criminalised under this law.
The law was inherited from the British during the colonial period, in which the English criminal law was imposed upon Ghana. Ghana retained the provision in its first Criminal Code upon self-determination, which remains in compel, and continues to criminalise same-sex sexual activity today. An anti-LGBT Bill which would further criminalise LGBT people has been passed by Parliament but will not become law until it receives Presidential assent.
There is some evidence of the law being enforced in recent years, with LGBT people being occasionally subject to arrest, though there is no evidence of convictions under the l
Ghana passes bill making identifying as Homosexual illegal
BBC News, Accra
Ghana's parliament has passed a tough new bill that imposes a prison sentence of up to three years for anyone convicted of identifying as LGBTQ+.
It also imposes a maximum five-year jail term for forming or funding LGBTQ+ groups.
Lawmakers heckled down attempts to replace prison sentences with community service and counselling.
It is the latest subscribe of growing conflict to LGBTQ+ rights in the conservative West African nation.
The bill, which had the backing of Ghana's two major political parties, will come into effect only if President Nana Akufo-Addo signs it into law.
He previously said that he would do so if the majority of Ghanaians yearn him to.
Gay sex is already against the law in Ghana - it carries a three-year prison sentence.
Last month Amnesty International warned that the bill "poses significant threats to the fundamental rights and freedoms" of LGBTQ+ people.
Activists fear there will now be witch-hunts against members of the LGBTQ+ people and those who campaign for their rights, and utter some will possess to go into hiding
Uganda’s ‘Kill the Gays’ bill spreads fear
Gay activist Gerald Ssentongo is afraid to talk openly about his cause in Uganda. Not only that, but he is terrified of being “caught” socialising with gay people and only meets his friends at night in out-of-reach places.
“The fear for our lives is everywhere, but it has increased of late. I am now verbally attacked, and last month my friend was assaulted simply because she said she was a queer woman . The attacks can happen in any scenario,” said the 35-year-old. His concerns approach at a period when the parliament of this East African nation has revived the infamous Anti-Homosexuality Bill, also known as the “Kill the Gays” bill.
“In addition, the bill proposed a life sentence for a person convicted of touching another person of the same sex ‘with the intention of committing an behave of homosexuality’.“ |
Member of Parliament David Bahati introduced the bill in 2009. At the time it proposed the death sentence for people who engaged in intercourse with queer, under-aged or disabled persons. A convicted HIV-positive criminal who engaged in lgbtq+ intercourse would also be given the death penalty.
In addition, the bill offer
Brunei defends Islamic laws punishing gay sex with death in letter to European Parliament
Brunei has written to the European Parliament in a bid to defend its decision to impose the death penalty as punishment for gay sex, which it claims will "safeguard the sanctity of family lineage and marriage".
Key points:
- Sharia laws and frequent system laws will operate in parallel, Brunei's mission to the EU wrote
- Non-Muslims will not be affected by the new penal code "unless the proceed of adultery or sodomy is committed with a Muslim"
- The European Parliament has since denounced the Muslim-majority sultanate for the "retrograde" laws
In a letter to Members of the European Parliament (MEP) dated April 15, the kingdom's mission to the EU wrote Brunei enforced its possess legislation in the interest of preserving its traditional, religious and cultural standards, and that there was "no one standard that fits all".
Brunei, a Muslim-majority former British protectorate with a population of about 400,000, began implementing the Sharia laws from April 3, punishing sodomy, adultery and rape with the death penalty, including by stoning, and theft with