Brunei has defended its controversial anti-gay laws (Picture: REX, Getty)
Brunei has defended its controversial anti-gay laws (Picture: REX, Getty)

Brunei has refused to back down over its controversial anti-gay laws.

The country in Southeast Asia has been widely condemned since it announced anyone who had gay sex could be stoned to death as punishment.

But rather than listen to calls to stop the cruel law that was brought in on April 3 it has defended its position in a letter to the European Parliament.

It asked for ‘tolerance, respect, understanding’ of its position, writing: ‘The criminalisation of adultery and sodomy is to safeguard the sanctity of family lineage and marriage to individual Muslims, particularly women.’

It added: ‘The penal sentences of hadd – stoning to death and amputation, imposed for offences of theft, robbery, adultery and sodomy – have extremely high evidentiary threshold, requiring no less than two or four men of high moral standing and piety as witnesses – to the exclusion of every form of circumstantial evidence.’

Brunei further tried to justify the new law to MEPs saying death sentences would only be passed down to gay people if the act was witnessed by two men who had high ‘standards of piety’.

It added there had to ‘no doubt at all’ as a standard of proof rather than the normal ‘beyond reasonable doubt’.

LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 6: LGBT activists protest against the Sultan of Brunei, who has ratified a law to make homosexuality punishable by stoning, at the Dorchester Hotel on April 6, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Guy Smallman/Getty Images)
LGBT activists protest against the Sultan of Brunei, who has ratified a law to make homosexuality punishable by stoning, at the Dorchester Hotel (Picture: Getty Images)

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Mandatory Credit: Photo by Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock (9762651b) Sultan Haji Sultan of Brunei salutes back to the parading people during a ceremonial parade Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah 72nd birthday celebration, Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei - 15 Jul 2018
Sultan Haji Sultan of Brunei has been condemned for the new laws (Picture: Rex)

Brunei’s defence did not convince European nations, including the UK, France and Germany, which backed a resolution condemning the country and its leader sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah.

The EU Parliament wants the bloc to punish Brunei by issuing visa bans and freezing considerable assets, including a number of lucrative hotels owned the nation, including the Dorchester in London.

The Southeast Asian country also revealed thieves faced amputation and those who wore clothes that were not made for their sex would be whipped.

Brunei banned homosexuality as soon as it gained independence from Britain in 1964 and has made punishments more severe after embracing a radical interpretation of Islam.

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