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Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah said during a speech last Sunday that Brunei will not impose death penalty for gay sex.

“I am aware that there are many questions and misperceptions [sic] with regard to the implementation of the SPCO. However, we believe that once these have been cleared, the merit of the law will be evident,” Sultan Bolkiah said in his speech ahead of Ramadan. He added, “As evident for more than two decades, we have practiced a de facto moratorium on the execution of death penalty for cases under the common law. This will also be applied to cases under the SPCO, which provides a wider scope for remission.”

Lastly, the sultan explained, “Both the common law and the Syariah law aim to ensure peace and harmony of the country. They are also crucial in protecting the morality and decency of the country as well as the privacy of individuals.”

The announcement came a month after Brunei implemented a law called Syariah Penal Code Order (SPCO) that punishes “rape, adultery, sodomy, robbery and insult or defamation of the Prophet Muhammad” with a maximum penalty of death, including by stoning. 

The law provoked an outcry and a boycott of Sultan-owned businesses such as the nine luxury hotels located in Rome, Paris, Los Angeles, Milan, etc. In addition, “some travel companies have stopped promoting Brunei as a tourist destination,” The Independent reports. Celebrities like George Clooney, Ellen DeGeneres, Elton John, and Luke Evans to name a few have led the calls for boycott while some companies have either cancelled deals or have forbidden its employees to stay in the aforementioned hotels (Read Business Insider’s report that detailed who is boycotting or who had cut ties with Brunei following the implementation of the law). 

Sultan Bolkiah’s announcement however, was met with mixed reactions on social media. A moratorium, they say, is not the same as permanently repealing the law whereas others pointed out that while death by stoning is already out of the picture, homosexuality remain illegal in Brunei and is actually “punishable by up to 10 years in prison.”


In his speech, Sultan Bolkiah had also said that Brunei has signed and will ratify the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. According to Amnesty International UK, Brunei “has rejected all recommendations to this effect in its human rights review at the UN in 2014.” Amnesty International UK added that corporal punishment such as stoning, amputation or whipping, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment is “prohibited in all circumstances” under international human rights law.

It is said that even though Brunei retained the death penalty, the last execution in their country occurred in 1957.

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