page_title: Brunei
section_title: Religious rights
hierarchical_section_title: Brunei / Legal system / Religious rights
caption_attribution_description: English: the Surau at the Brunei International Airport
context_page_description: Brunei, officially the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace, is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its coastline with the South China Sea, the country is completely surrounded by the insular Malaysian state of Sarawak. It is separated into two parts by the Sarawak district of Limbang. Brunei is the only sovereign state completely on the island of Borneo; the remainder of the island's territory is divided between the nations of Malaysia and Indonesia. Brunei's population was 428,963 in 2018. The government is an absolute monarchy under the Sultan, which implements a combination of English common law and sharia law, as well as direct general Islamic practices.
  At the peak of the Bruneian Empire, Sultan Bolkiah is alleged to have had control over most regions of Borneo, including modern-day Sarawak and Sabah, as well as the Sulu Archipelago off the northeast tip of Borneo, Seludong, and the islands off the northwest tip of Borneo. The maritime state was visited by Spain's Magellan Expedition in 1521 and fought against Spain in the 1578 Castilian War.
  During the 19th century, the Bruneian Empire began to decline.
context_section_description: In The Laws of Brunei, the right of non-Muslims to practice their faith is guaranteed by the 1959 Constitution. However, celebrations and prayers must be confined to places of worship and private residences. Upon adopting Sharia Penal Code, the Ministry of Religious Affairs banned Christmas decorations in public places, but did not forbid celebration of Christmas in places of worship and private premises. The international media reports of a “Christmas ban” which spread in 2014 in Brunei were exaggerated, failing to mention that celebrations continue within churches and among the different Christian communities.
  On 25 December 2015, 4,000 out of 18,000 estimated local Catholics attended the mass of Christmas Day and Christmas Eve. In 2015, the head of the Catholic Church in Brunei told The Brunei Times, "To be quite honest there has been no change for us this year; no new restrictions have been laid down, although we fully respect and adhere to the existing regulations that our celebrations and worship be [confined] to the compounds of the church and private residences".
  Brunei's revised penal code came into force in phases, commencing on 22 April 2014 with offences punishable by fines or imprisonment. The complete code, due for final implementation later, stipulated the death penalty for numerous offenses (both violent and non-violent), such as insult or defamation of Muhammad, insulting any verses of the Quran and Hadith, blasphemy, declaring oneself a prophet or non-Muslim, robbery, rape, adultery, sodomy, extramarital sexual relations for Muslims, and murder. Stoning to death was the specified "method of execution for crimes of a sexual nature". Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) declared that, "Application of the death penalty for such a broad range of offences contravenes international law."
caption: Brunei International Airport Mosque
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