Brunei is set to implement death by stoning for gay sex next week when newly-implemented sections of the Brunei Darussalam Syariah Penal Code come into effect on April 3.

The law has been on hold for four years amid criticism, Channel News Asia reports. “Rights groups reacted in horror to the latest hardline move from the resource-rich nation on Borneo, which practises a stricter brand of Islam than its neighbours Malaysia and Indonesia. The tiny sultanate will implement the harsh new penal code – which also prescribes amputation of a hand and foot for theft – next Wednesday. Homosexuality is already illegal in Brunei but it will now become a capital offence. The law only applies to Muslims.”

Towleroad readers will remember our coverage of it in 2014 and subsequent protests outside the Brunei-owned Beverly Hills Hotel.

Said Rachel Chhoa-Howard, Brunei Researcher at Amnesty International: “Pending provisions in Brunei’s Penal Code would allow stoning and amputation as punishments – including for children, to name only their most heinous aspects. Brunei must immediately halt its plans to implement these vicious punishments, and revise its Penal Code in compliance with its human rights obligations. The international community must urgently condemn Brunei’s move to put these cruel penalties into practice. To legalize such cruel and inhuman penalties is appalling of itself. Some of the potential ‘offences’ should not even be deemed crimes at all, including consensual sex between adults of the same gender. These abusive provisions received widespread condemnation when plans were first discussed five years ago.”