The tiny nation of Brunei has recently implemented the Sharia Penal Code, including the death penalty for people convicted of sodomy.

Gay Star News broke the news at the end of March, when it learned the new law was entering into force on 3 April.

Since the news went public, it has met with significant public outcry.

Actor George Clooney penned an op-ed urging people to boycott Brunei-owned hotels and other businesses. Elton John, Ellen DeGeneres and other high-profile LGBTI celebrities also encouraged their fans to take action against Brunei.

Nonetheless, the nation in Southeast Asia isn’t the only one where gay sex is punishable by death.

Here are the other countries in the world where LGBTI people might lose their lives for living their truth.

Afghanistan

The country’s penal code doesn’t refer explicitly to homosexuality, but Article 130 of the Constitution allows recourse to sharia law, prohibiting same-sex sexual activities in general.

Although gay men may face the death penalty, Afghanistan hasn’t issued any sentence for homosexuality since the end of the Taliban rule in 2001.

Chechnya

Photo: Dave Frenkel

The federal Russian LGBTI laws apply in Chechnya, a part of the Russian Federation.

However, in Chechnya, as in other regions of southern Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin has empowered local leaders to enforce their interpretation of traditional values.

In 1996 Chechnya’s separatist president Aslan Maskhadov adopted sharia law in his Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Article 148 of the Chechen penal code made sodomy punishable by caning after the first two offences. Third-time offenders can be executed.

In 2017, local opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported anti-LGBTI purges were taking place in the country as people were detained and tortured, with many killed in extrajudicial killings.

Chechnya Crisis Appeal

Iran

Gay sex between men is a capital offence under Iran’s Islamic Penal Code, enacted in 1991.

Iran sentences gay men to death for homosexual intercourse. Moreover, men can be flogged for lesser acts such as kissing, while women may be flogged for same-sex sexual activity.

The country publicly hanged a man for homosexuality in January 2019 after he was found guilty of raping two males.

Mauritania

Muslim men engaging in same-sex sexual activity face death by stoning according to a 1984 law in force in the northwestern African country. Women can face prison for the same crime.

Nigeria

Nigerians protested the murders of LGBTI people on the National Day of Mourning. | Photo: Twitter/Bisi Alimi

Several states have adopted sharia law and imposed a death penalty for men engaging in homosexual behavior.

Pakistan

Pakistan allows the death penalty for gay and bisexual men engaging in same-sex intercourse but there haven’t been executions since the law came into effect.

Qatar

Qatar punishes Muslim people by death for extramarital sex, regardless of the gender of those involved.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia punishes homosexuality with the death penalty

According to the interpretation of the law by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, any married man or any non-Muslim who engages in sodomy with a Muslim risks death by stoning.