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Oxford University to rethink degree given to Brunei sultan

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In this Oct, 10, 2013, photo, Brunei\'s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah speaks during the closing ceremony and handover of the ASEAN Chairmanship to Myanmar in Bandar Seri Begawan. The sultan announced to implement Islamic criminal laws that punishes gay sex by stoning offenders to death. The legal change in the tiny, oil-rich monarchy, which also includes amputation for theft, is due to come into force Wednesday, April 3, 2019. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

LONDON – The University of Oxford says it will reconsider an honorary degree it awarded the Sultan of Brunei following the outcry over new Islamic laws in the Southeast Asian nation that punish gay sex and adultery by stoning offenders to death.

The university said on Saturday it shared the “international revulsion” the laws induced and that it would reconsider a 1993 decision to confer the honorary degree of civil law by diploma to Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah.

But Oxford stressed that no one had the right “summarily to rescind” the degree.

Dozens of protesters raised the rainbow flag of the LGBT rights movement on Saturday outside London’s Dorchester Hotel, which Brunei’s sultan owns. Celebrities including George Clooney, Elton John and Ellen DeGeneres have supported a global boycott of nine hotels tied to Hassanal.

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Abbey Westbury

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