are punishable by death by stoning: adultery;
sodomy; rape; apostasy; blasphemy;
insulting Islam. Brunei’s SPCO does not
replace civil law, but rather works alongside
it. Before a case can proceed in court, it must
be decided whether it should be prosecuted
under civil or Shari’a law (Amnesty 2019).
Indonesian Ambassador visiting the 32 Indonesian
citizens in Brunei Prison at the time
Foreign Nationals
Whilst Brunei administers death sentences
infrequently, the two most recent individuals
sentenced to death were foreign nationals. In
2015, a Filipino national was sentenced for
murder, and 2017 saw a Malaysian national
sentenced for drug traf cking. There are
currently thought to be over 60,000
foreigners working in Brunei with valid work
permits (un-registered workers are thought
to substantially increase this gure). Of this
60,000, the most employed foreign workers
were Indonesian, Bangladeshi and Filipino
nationals (Department of Labour and
Employment, Brunei 2021). Of these workers,
men most commonly work in the
construction sector whilst women frequently
take up employment as domestic workers.
Whilst most of these foreign workers are
attracted to Brunei for its higher wages and
better working conditions (seen since 1996,
see: Mani 1996), employees still report social
problems such as feeling homesick and
culture shock, as well as unpaid or underpaid
wages and physical abuse from employers
(ibid).
Although the number of individuals on death
row is thought to be under ten, looking to the
case of Indonesian prisoners in Brunei
Darussalam can give us an indication as to
how foreign nationals are criminalised in the
country. In 2021, the Indonesian
Ambassador visited 32 Indonesian citizens
incarcerated in Maraburong Prison and the
Women’s Prison in Jerudong. The majority of
these individuals were incarcerated for
immigration violations, buying and selling
prohibited goods, and other criminal cases
(Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia 2021).
Acknowledgements
With special thanks to Francesca Rigg who contributed to this research in Brunei, among others.
Death Penalty Research Unit, University of Oxford
For more research see:
fi
fi
foreign-nationals.uwazi.io or tinyurl.com/mappingdeathrow