The government of Brunei has sent a letter to the European Parliament defending its adoption of Sharia (Islamic Law) that will see people stoned to death for the crime of homosexuality.
The letter implores the EU to show âunderstanding, tolerance and respectâ for the countryâs laws and states âThe criminalisation of adultery and sodomy is to safeguard the sanctity of family lineage and marriage to individual Muslims, particularly women.â
The open letter goes on to defend the new laws saying
âThe penal sentences of hadd â stoning to death and amputation, imposed for offences of theft, robbery, adultery and sodomy â have extremely high evidentiary threshold, requiring no less than two or four men of high moral standing and piety as witnesses â to the exclusion of every form of circumstantial evidence.â
This letter did not however, convince EU states from issuing a condemnation of the countryâs new laws.
Brunei has come under sever criticism for adopting the Islamic law however, in most Muslim majority countries homosexuality is a criminal offence in several carried a death sentence including in Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
Hostility towards the LGBTQI community is also palpable amongst the Muslim diaspora in Western countries.
The Guardian reported that in 2017 a broad survey of British Muslims found that over half believe homosexuality should be criminalised while nearly a quarter want full Sharia (Islamic Law) imposed as the UKâs law system.
At the time Trevor Phillips, the former head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, sounded the alarm stating the findings were âextremely worryingâ as they suggested on many issues Muslims were ânation within a nationâ.
What are your thoughts on this? Tell us in the comments section on Facebook and share this with your friends.