‘Kill the Gays’: Uganda Resurrects Overturned Bill Introducing Death Penalty for Homosexuals

The Ugandan government has announced plans to reintroduce legislation paving the way for the execution of homosexual people, five years after the bill was thrown out by the constitutional court on a technicality.

The bill, dubbed ‘Kill the gays’ within Uganda, will be reintroduced within weeks, according to officials. Currently, Ugandans face life imprisonment if convicted of having sex with another person of the same gender.

Ethics and Integrity Minister Simon Lokodo said the bill is being reintroduced because of allegedly “massive recruitment of gay people” and current laws are too limited in scope.

“We want it made clear that anyone who is even involved in promotion and recruitment has to be criminalised,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “Those that do grave acts will be given the death sentence."

The minister said he’s confident the measure will get the backing of the two-thirds of parliamentary members required to pass a bill.

Several countries cut their financial support and aid to Uganda when the ‘Kill the gays’ bill was first brought forward in 2014, but Lokodo said the country is prepared to stand up to a fresh backlash over the legislation, adding “we don’t like blackmail.”

In March, Brunei introduced an amendment to its Islamic penal code that included stoning gay people to death, but suspended the measure following international outcry. 

HRW Urges Brunei to Repeal Sharia Law

The Wonderful World of Islam

By Darryl Coote

Human Rights Watch is urging Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei to not only repeal his country's newly enacted Sharia law penal code but to ratify international human rights accords it has already signed. Photo by Drew Angerer/UPI/Drew Angerer | License Photo

(UPI) -- An international human rights organization called on the sultan of Brunei to repeal his country's newly enacted Sharia penal code as it violates a range of internationally recognized human rights.

Enacted April 3, the Syariah Penal Code imposes death by stoning for extramarital and anal sex, limb amputation for theft and 40 whip lashes for lesbian sex, among other restrictions critics say target women and sexual and gender minorities.

"The provisions contained in the penal code pave the way for multiple violations of human rights, including the right to life, freedom from torture and other ill-treatment, freedom of expression, privacy and religion," four directors of Human Rights Watch said in a letter dated Wednesday to Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, who is also the prime minister of Brunei.

A detailed report of the new penal code attached to the letter states that the code violates Brunei's obligations to international human rights conventions the country has signed, including the Convention on Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women as well as others it has signed but not yet ratified.

Again I mention that Islam tends toward radicalism and Sharia. This is another example.

"As a member state of the United Nations, Brunei has pledged to respect the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, whose provisions are considered reflective of customary international law," the report said.

Human Rights Watch Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson said the new penal code is a "multifaceted assault on fundamental human rights."

"The sultan holds absolute power in Brunei, so responsibility for this abhorrent penal code falls squarely on his shoulders," Robertson said in a statement. "Brunei's repeated commitments to respect human rights amount to little so long as the Syariah Penal Code is in force."

The rollout of the new penal code was met with opposition from both celebrities, such as actor George Clooney and comedian Ellen DeGeneres who encouraged boycotts of Brunei-linked hotel brands, and countries such as the United States, Britain, France and Germany who protested the country's use of Sharia law.

Sharia law is full of Allah's mercy and blessings

In response, the sultan on May 5 said there are many "misperceptions" about the code that may cause "apprehension." He said despite the implementation of the penal code, Brunei will continue to uphold its de facto moratorium on the death penalty.

"There should not be any concern on the Sharia law as it is full of Allah's mercy and blessings," he said.

Islam must have a radically different interpretation of the meaning of 'mercy' and 'blessings'! 

However, Human Rights Watch rejected this explanation Wednesday, stating the moratorium "is subject to political whim and could be lifted at any time, while leaving in place dozens of other rights-offending provisions." The death penalty is also only one of many issues with the penal code, the directors said in their letter.

Human Rights Watch then urged the sultan to immediately repeal the penal code, ensure the new one is aligned with international human rights law and ratify conventions and treaties Brunei has previously signed.

"The sultan should revoke this law and fulfil his promise to respect human rights," Robertson said.

Brunei’s Law Mandates STONING TO DEATH of Gays & Adulterers

Not a sound so far from Mainstream Media as Islam displays Sharia

Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei Darussalam ©  Global Look Press / Zheng Huansong

A harsher version of penal code, which includes sharia-based punishments for things like adultery and same-sex relations, is to come into force next week in Brunei. The ‘human rights defenders’ in Washington, however, are silent.

Brunei, a tiny Muslim-majority absolute monarchy located in Southeastern Asia is about to put into force the last amendment to its criminal code as part of a reform initiated back in 2014. The renewed code, which is aimed at reflecting Islam’s tenets of morality and punishment for those who break them, will include caning and even stoning to death of Muslims, who are found guilty of adultery, sodomy and rape.

The government wanted to roll in the new laws in stages, but put the process on pause after international public outcry over the milder phase one, which included fines and jail terms for offenders, but not corporal punishment. Last week a rights group reported that Brunei quietly announced earlier this year the date, when the harsher version of the code would come into force: April 3.

“We are trying to get pressure placed on the government of Brunei but realise there is a very short time frame until the laws take effect,” Matthew Woolfe an Australia-based founder of the group, the Brunei Project, told Reuters. “It took us by surprise that the government has now given a date and is rushing through implementation.”

Homosexuality was outlawed in Brunei even before the 2014 reform and in fact since colonial times, with jail sentences of up to 10 years possible. If its government goes ahead with the plan, the nation will become the first in Asia to allow punishing gay people by death. At the moment only a handful of nations like Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Yemen have such provisions in their law.

The news has horrified some international rights groups. Amnesty International, in particular, decried the introduction of “cruel and inhuman penalties” and called on the world to “urgently condemn Brunei’s move to put these cruel penalties into practice.”

However, the US has so far stayed conspicuously silent on the issue. Washington, which actively develops economic ties with the oil-rich nation while regularly holding annual naval drills with a particular focus on maritime security in the South China Sea, has not yet issued a single statement on the latest developments in Brunei.

And neither did London, which also enjoys “close ties” with its former protectorate. Although, one could hardly expect any damning statements from the US aimed at the Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. The man, who recently described the amendment of the penal code as “a great achievement,” has traditionally enjoyed warm relations with the White House, which were sometimes marked by some extraordinary gifts like jewelry worth $71,468 presented to the former first lady, Michelle Obama, by the Queen of Brunei back in 2013.

However, such a situation would probably surprise no one. The fact that another of Washington’s major allies – Saudi Arabia – also punishes same-sex relations by death – alongside adultery, apostasy and blasphemy – never stopped the US from striking billions-worth of deals with Riyadh.

The recent scandal over the murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which resulted in global fallout for the Saudis, failed to change the attitude of the White House and the Pentagon to Riyadh.

In theory, Iran-style crippling sanctions of its exports would swiftly change the mind of the Brunei government on whether stoning gays is a good idea. But considering how selective Western powers are in using this tool against nations accused of human right violations, one shouldn’t expect such a development anytime soon.

Sharia is a natural evolution of countries where Islam is in the majority. Where Islam is a significant minority, it is just a matter of time before it becomes the majority. Much higher birth rates and the use of democratic countries own laws and social programs against them make Muslim domination inevitable. And yet, most European countries are completely blind to the obvious.