Brunei, a nation on the island of Borneo, on Wednesday become the first East Asian country to adopt sharia law despite international outcry.
The announcement was made during a ceremony by the sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, who leads the oil-rich kingdom where Muslims make up about two-thirds of the country’s population of 434,000.
According to International Christian Concern, this law is difficult news for Christian converts who are expected to have to go into deeper hiding in the nation where conversion from Islam is now illegal and punishable by death.
Other Islamic law penalties include flogging, amputation and death by stoning for various crimes.
“Today… I place my faith in and am grateful to God the almighty to announce that tomorrow, Thursday May 1, will see the enforcement of sharia law phase one, to be followed by the other phases,” Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah said, according to CNN.
The law, International Christian Concern reported, mostly applies to Muslims, including children who have reached puberty, though some aspects will apply to non-Muslims. For example, those who “persuade, tell or encourage” Muslim children under the age of 18 “to accept the teachings of religions other than Islam” are liable for a fine or jail.
“Theory states that God’s law is harsh and unfair, but God himself has said that his law is indeed fair,” the sultan added.
The UN’s human rights office told media it was “deeply concerned”, adding that penalties such as stoning were classified under international law as “torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”.
“Any religion-based legislation must not violate human rights, including the rights of those belonging to the majority religion as well as of religious minorities and non-believers,” the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bauchelet, urged Brunei.
“It is to be expected that not only society will change—depending on what exactly will be considered as ‘anti-Islam’ –but also that the country’s Christian converts will be forced to hide their faith even more carefully.” Tomas Muller, a persecution analyst for Open Doors’ World Watch Research unit.
