Brunei’s foreign ministry has said implementing Sharia law is about prevention rather than punishment, after intense criticism of its decision to implement the strict Islamic code.
Under the new laws, adultery and sex between men is punishable by stoning to death.
Brunei said there would be a high threshold for evidence in those cases, suggesting punishment would be rare.
It comes after the UN called the punishments “cruel and inhuman”.
Brunei has sent a response from Erywan Yusof, the minister of foreign affairs, to the United Nation’s (UN) criticism saying Sharia law “focuses more on prevention than punishment. Its aim is to educate, deter, rehabilitate and nurture rather than to punish”.
It also said Sharia does not criminalise based on sexual orientation or belief, including same-sex relations.
The criminalisation of “adultery and sodomy is to safeguard the sanctity of family lineage and marriage of individual Muslims, particularly women”, according to the statement.
