ILLUSTRATION FERNANDO SAFONT
A woman collapses to the ground, blood seeping out of her lacerated wounds and soaking through her clothing. A baying crowd are gathered around to witness her public punishment, holding up their phones with glee to video her in excruciating pain. When the attack is over and the cane is discarded, she is dragged by the wrist to a damp, dirty prison cell that could be her home for the next 10 years. Her only crime? Falling in love with another woman.
It might seem like a sadistic scene from a horror movie, but this medieval deterrent is potentially a real-life consequence for a woman daring to make her lesbian identity public in the sultanate of Brunei. And soon, if rumours are to be believed, the sentence for women will be upgraded to match that of gay men: the death penalty.