Lawyer in detention, charged, facing possible jail term for online comments about judge
Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA)
03 June 2008
News
A Singaporean-US lawyer has been charged in a Singapore
court for allegedly insulting a judge in emails and his blog, wire reports
say.

A Reuters dispatch on 2 June 2008 (
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNew...N32641420080602 ),
said
that "Gopalan Nair, who runs a law firm in California and was previously a
Singapore citizen, was arrested last Friday and charged for 'threatening,
abusing or insulting a public servant' in an email he circulated and posted
on his blog, singaporedissident.blogspot.com."

In his blog Nair criticized the Singaporean justice system, Singapore's
prime minister Lee Hsien Loong and his father - Minister Mentor Lee Kuan
Yew - as well as Belinda Ang. Judge Ang had presided over a three-day
hearing to determine defamation damages to be paid by opposition leader
Chee Soon Juan and his sister Siok Chin to the Lees.

In the course of the hearings, Chee - who has already been bankrupted by
the Singapore courts over previous convictions of defamation, also against
the Lees - personally cross-examined the elder Lee, accusing him of
sacrificing Singaporeans' liberty and human and civil rights in exchange
for the city-state's economic might. Judge Ang on numerous occasions ruled
that many of Chee's questions and comments were out of line or irrelevant
to the proceedings.

In an email sent to the media and Singapore's Attorney General, and
subsequently posted on his blog, Nair dismissed the hearing and the entire
trial of Chee Soon Juan and Siok Chin as "a farce". He said Ang was biased
in favour of the Lees, writing that "Judge Belinda Ang was throughout
prostituting herself during the entire proceedings."

He then dared Lee Kuan Yew and the Singapore police to arrest him. Lawyer
Chia Ti Lik, who is representing Nair, said his client was not sentenced
and will be held in custody for seven days pending further investigations.
Nair could be jailed for up to a year or face a maximum fine of S$5,000
(approx. US$3,671) if found guilty.

For further information on the defamation action against Chee Soon Juan and
Siok Chin, see: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/74214 .

Hell hath no fury jury ...

Can Singapore government arrest him if he did not break Singapore law? He is a US citizen right?

For a second I thought it was Judge Florentino!

Well atleast it wasnt.