Brunei - Limb-Severing, Flogging, and Stoning to Death

[littlebabyjesus]

I too would want to see it challenged, and I suspect that even under the sort of provision we're talking about, English law with its various assumptions and precedents would take precedence over either shariah or beth din courts, in other words this provision is not going to fundamentally change the legal position - you can make a will including all sorts of provisions, but these are potentially challengable once it comes to executing them.

Oh sure, Beth Din courts are the lowest rung of the ladder and any decisions they make can be overturned. But, and this is a big but, to challenge the decision of a religious court that you had agreed to take part in may not be a straightforward thing to do. There may be massive social pressures not to do so. There may have been massive social pressures to agree to take part in the court in the first place.

If a court has certain discriminatory biases based on gender and those biases are reflected in its decisions, the very status of women in the communities using the court that the court's bias reflects may in effect make it impossible for a woman to challenge the decision without leaving that community. That's not a non-problem - a theoretical right to appeal to a higher court may not in practice be possible to exercise.

 

[bubblesmcgrath]

Can't I write a will including / excluding whoever the fuck I want anyway, whether I'm an Islam or a Pringle Pipe worshipper?

Course you can....

 

[andysays]

Oh sure, Beth Din courts are the lowest rung of the ladder and any decisions they make can be overturned. But, and this is a big but, to challenge the decision of a religious court that you had agreed to take part in may not be a straightforward thing to do. There may be massive social pressures not to do so. There may have been massive social pressures to agree to take part in the court in the first place.

If a court has certain discriminatory biases based on gender and those biases are reflected in its decisions, the very status of women in the communities using the court that the court's bias reflects may in effect make it impossible for a woman to challenge the decision without leaving that community. That's not a non-problem - a theoretical right to appeal to a higher court may not in practice be possible to exercise.

I think I agree with pretty much all of this, but there's a few things to point out.

In at least some of these areas, most obviously inheritance, there is no question of people who are affected having to give their consent to it being dealt with in a religious court rather than the normal civil one.

Discrimination on the basis of gender etc exists in wider society as well as in religious communities where these courts are likely to operate. I suggest it will be similarly difficult for, say, a woman within one of those communities who feels she has been discriminated against in divorce or inheritance to go against social pressure to challenge that in a civil court, just as it is in a religious court.

Just to be clear, I'm not in favour of decisions being made in religious courts; I think we should all be subject to the same legal system. But I also don't believe that the creation of Sharia courts in Britain will create substantial new potential for discrimination which doesn't already exist within British society, and that's why I think this issue (rather like the Halal/Kosher meat one on the other thread) has a dangerous dog-whistle element to it that we need to be wary about (and just to be really, really clear, I'm not suggesting that you are demonstrating any racism by the comments you've made about it).

 

[goldenecitrone]

The Sultan has now banned Christmas. Five years in prison for anyone caught celebrating it.

5-Year Jail Time For Anyone Who Celebrates Christmas In Brunei - The Coverage Bureau

 

[editor]

The Sultan has now banned Christmas. Five years in prison for anyone caught celebrating it.

5-Year Jail Time For Anyone Who Celebrates Christmas In Brunei - The Coverage Bureau

More medals! More badges! More regalia!

 

[goldenecitrone]

More medals! More badges! More regalia!

Done up like a Christmas tree. He should hand himself in immediately.

 

[NoXion]

More medals! More badges! More regalia!

There must be a law of some kind in which the number and fanciness of medals is inversely proportional to the actual achievements of the wearer.

What a brasshole.

 

[frogwoman]

Brunei Officially Bans Future Christmas Celebrations

Jeez this is fucked

 

[twentythreedom]

Prince Jefri was like the Saudis but worse iirc - wasn't his megayacht called Tits

Beyond self-parody

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

Britain keeps a military presence there, and a training area. Someone should have a word.

 

[DotCommunist]

There must be a law of some kind in which the number and fanciness of medals is inversely proportional to the actual achievements of the wearer.

What a brasshole.

some of those million star generals from the US practically have a cuirass made of medals ffs

 

[frogwoman]

Southeast asia seems to be getting worryingly more religious, more racist, more right wing, and more conservative

I posted a video in the IS thread about a march/marathon by daesh supporters in indonesia running around with daesh flags, people riding along with them on motorbikes, stopping traffic in the road with nasheeds blasting out etc police doing fuck all other than direct traffic away from them, and there are plenty of other videos like that.

I think its got to be seen though, not just in the context of Islam related topics but the fact that large swathes of the region seem to be heading in the direction of authoritarian and backward politics, whether it's countries adopting sharia law or countries like myanmar adopting racist and anti muslim laws, or the growing anti chinese sentiment that seems to be taking hold in some of these places

 

[frogwoman]

The Implications of Brunei’s Sharia Law