The small southeast Asian nation of
Burnei has postponed implementation of a new sharia criminal code that had been scheduled to take effect today. According to
AFP, no new date has been given for implementing the phase-in of sharia penalties that eventually will include flogging, severing of limbs and death by stoning. AFP says:
Burnei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah — the driving force behind sharia — is visiting Singapore, and the government is believed to be waiting for the all-powerful Islamic monarch to return before introducing the sensitive legal code.
But the delay could feed perceptions of hesitation by the 67-year-old sultan — one of the world’s wealthiest men — who earlier this year faced a backlash from the country’s social-media-savvy citizens.
