Brunei Backs Off Homosexual Death Penalty After Hotel Boycotts

LOS ANGELES, CA — The boycott of the Hotel Bel-Air and the Beverly Hills Hotel over the Brunei government’s plan to kill adulterers and homosexuals by stoning appears to be working. The Brunei government, which owns the famed hotels, announced a moratorium on its newly enacted death penalty law in the wake of the high profile boycott Sunday.

The draconian laws went into effect last month as part of government’s efforts to blend Islamic extremism and state law. The backlash within the Hollywood community was immediate. George Clooney penned an open letter calling for the boycott, and the Los Angeles City Council joined in. The hotels have long been seen as places where Hollywood royalty rubs elbows, but almost overnight it became socially unacceptable for Hollywood notables to be seen at either hotel.

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah announced the moratorium in a statement issued Sunday, but he declined to say if the country would reverse course. Rather, he cited the need to clarify “misperceptions” about the law.

“I am aware that there are many questions and misperceptions with regard to the implementation of the (law). We have given clarification to this. We are conscious of the fact that misperceptions may cause apprehension. However, we believe that once these have been cleared, the merit of the law will be evident,” he wrote.

The country “will be ratifying the United Nations Convention Against Torture (UNCAT). Both the common law and the Syariah law aim to ensure peace and harmony of the country,” he added. “They are also crucial in protecting the morality and decency of the public as well as respecting the privacy of individuals.”

Whether that means people considered guilty of adultery or homosexual acts would be truly safe from stoning is far from clear.

Last month, the Los Angeles City Council passed a resolution, committing the city to refrain from conducting business at the two hotels, including participating in any event or other business that requires city resources; and officially discourage all city employees and residents from staying at or attending any functions at either of the hotels unless and until the government of Brunei repeals "these cruel and inhumane laws."

Actor George Clooney has been at the forefront of the push to boycott the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Hotel Bel-Air and seven properties in Europe owned by the government-owned Brunei Investment Agency.

"They're nice hotels," Clooney wrote recently in a column for Deadline. "The people who work there are kind and helpful and have no part in the ownership of these properties. But let's be clear, every single time we stay at or take meetings at or dine at any of these nine hotels we are putting money directly into the pockets of men who choose to stone and whip to death their own citizens for being gay or accused of adultery."