Sultan announces sharia law for Brunei, calling it 'historic step'
Sultan hails penal code that includes flogging, death by stoning, and severing of limbs
The Sultan of Brunei introduced tough sharia-law punishments yesterday, including death by stoning for crimes such as adultery, hailing what he called a "historic" step toward Islamic orthodoxy for his country.
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah - one of the world's wealthiest men - said a new sharia penal code in the works for years was officially introduced in the tiny, oil-rich sultanate and would be phased in beginning in six months.
Based on individual cases, punishments could include stoning to death for adultery, severing of limbs for theft, and flogging for violations ranging from abortion to alcohol consumption, according to a copy of the code. The code applies only to Muslims.
"By the grace of Allah, with the coming into effect of this legislation, our duty to Allah is therefore being fulfilled," the sultan, 67, said in a speech.
An absolute monarch whose family has tightly controlled the country of 408,000 people for six centuries, the sultan first called in 1996 for the introduction of sharia criminal punishments.
The sultan already imposes a relatively conservative brand of Islam on his subjects, compared to Brunei's Muslim neighbours, Malaysia and Indonesia.