Photo: FG/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images; Inset: Anthony Harvey/Getty
“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,” Clooney, 57,wrote in a column for Deadlinelast week.
Through an eponymous investment arm under its finance ministry, Brunei owns the following nine hotels through Dorchester Group Ltd: The Dorchester and 45 Park Lane in London as well as Coworth Park in the U.K.; the Beverly Hills Hotel and Hotel Bel-Air in California; the Hotel Plaza Athenee and Le Meurice in Paris; and, in Italy, the Hotel Eden and Hotel Principe di Savoia.
In a statement to PEOPLE, Dorchester Collection, which manages all nine hotels, distanced itself from the Brunei laws:
“Dorchester Collection’s Code emphasizes equality, respect and integrity in all areas of our operation, and strongly values people and cultural diversity amongst our guests and employees. Inclusion and diversity remain core beliefs as we do not tolerate any form of discrimination.”
In his Deadline column last week, Clooney noted that the hotel employees “are kind and helpful and have no part in the ownership of these properties.”
But the severity of the laws being enacted compelled him to speak out.
“Brunei is a Monarchy and certainly any boycott would have little effect on changing these laws. But are we really going to help pay for these human rights violations? Are we really going to help fund the murder of innocent citizens?” Clooney wrote. “I’ve learned over years of dealing with murderous regimes that you can’t shame them. But you can shame the banks, the financiers and the institutions that do business with them and choose to look the other way.”
Elton John hasadded his supportas hasGrey’s AnatomystarEllen Pompeo.
The new laws exist in a dual system alongside a system based on common law, CNN reports. This will “maintain peace and order and preserve religion, life, family and individuals regardless of gender, nationality, race and faith,” the prime minister’s office reportedly said in a statement.
Despite widespread criticism from the United Nations, the United Stations and other countries, Brunei has been unswayed.
“Brunei Darussalam is a sovereign Islamic and fully independent country and, like all other independent countries, enforces its own rule of laws. … The Syariah [Sharia] Law, apart from criminalizing and deterring acts that are against the teachings of Islam, it also aims to educate, respect and protect the legitimate rights of all individuals, society or nationality of any faiths and race,” the prime minister’s office said.
Though the country is majority Muslim, most of the laws apply to non-Muslims,according to CNN.
“In comparison to its neighbors, Brunei has grown conservative in recent years, including banning the sale of alcohol,” CNN reported earlier this week.
The penal code now lays out draconian punishments, theNew York Timesreports: “Amputation of a hand or foot for some crimes [including theft], and whipping for others.” Gay women who have sex can get 40 lashes.
“Brunei’s new penal code is barbaric to the core, imposing archaic punishments for acts that shouldn’t even be crimes,” Human Rights Watch official Phil Robertson said in a statement, per theTimes.
In a statement on Tuesday, a U.S. State Department spokesman said, in part, “All governments have an obligation to ensure that all people can freely enjoy the universal human rights and fundamental freedoms to which they are entitled. The United States strongly opposes violence, criminalization and discrimination targeting vulnerable groups, including women at risk of violence, religious and ethnic minorities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons.
Some members of Brunei’s LGBTQ community, including a transgender woman who is trying to get asylum in Canada,shared their distress with CNN.
“I wanted to live my life on my own terms, in the sense that I wanted to be a woman. I wanted to live a life without religious fundamentalism, conservatism, so I just left the country,” the woman said.
A gay man who is living in Canada’s British Columbia told the network: “I never expected this to go this far. I knew that Brunei always wanted to have Sharia law enacted in the country; I’ve been expecting it since I was a kid. But I just can’t imagine living under Sharia law. Being gay in Brunei was difficult enough without Sharia law.”
The Brunei embassy did not respond to a request for comment from PEOPLE.
source: people.com
