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Singapore activist, politician convicted for criticising judiciary
SINGAPORE, Oct 9, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A Singaporean activist and an
opposition politician were Tuesday found guilty of contempt of court for
seperate Facebook posts criticising the country’s judiciary.
Social worker and human rights activist Jolovan Wham wrote a Facebook post
in April saying that judges in neighbouring Malaysia were more independent
than their counterparts in Singapore on cases with political implications.
He had made the observation as he commented on a legal challenge filed by
a Malaysian online news portal against that country’s law against fake news.
Singapore’s Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) initiated contempt of court
proceedings against Wham for scandalising the judiciary.
John Tan, a politician with the opposition Singapore Democratic Party, was
also charged with contempt after he wrote a Facebook post saying that the
AGC’s actions against Wham proved that his comments were true.
Wham and Tan argued that their comments constituted fair criticism and
were covered under the constitutional provisions for free speech and
expression.
High Court Judge Woo Bih Lih however disagreed and convicted the pair.
“Wham’s post impugned the integrity and impartiality of Singapore’s judges,
and thus the Singapore courts,” Woo said, adding it meant that local judges
“are not completely independent and are partial to the government”.
The post also “posed risk that public confidence in the administration of
justice would be undermined,” the judge said.
Woo said allegations in Tan’s post “were not supported by argument and
evidence” and “not made in good faith and did not constitute fair criticism
of a court”.
Sentencing will be passed on another date.
While Singapore is admired for its economic prosperity, it is regularly
criticised by rights groups for tough rules on political dissent and freedom
of expression.
Last year, the AGC began contempt proceedings against Li Shengwu, a
grandson of modern Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew and a nephew of
the current prime minister for a Facebook post in which he said the
government was “very litigious and has a pliant court system”.
The AGC had described his post as “an egregious and baseless attack on the
Singapore Judiciary and constitutes an offence of contempt of court”.
Anyone found guilty of contempt could be fined up to Sg$100,000 ($72,141)
or jailed for up to three years, or both.
BSS/AFP/RY/1625