Andrew Loh
In a statement released to the press, lawyer Gopalan Nair rejected accusations that he had sent emails to Justice Belinda Ang and others. Nair was arrested and charged on June 4 for insulting a public servant.
Nair is also facing a second charge, this time for insulting a judge in the High Court, Justice Lai Siu Chiu.
He has since been released on bail of $5,000.
In his press statement, Nair said, “I did not at anytime send any emails to Judge Belinda Ang or anyone else as far as this incident is concerned.” He added that the authorities have seized his computer notebook as well.
Nair also defended his right to criticize Justice Ang in his blog posting. “I believe as a human being, it is my right and my duty under the constitution of the Republic of Singapore and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to be able to speak free as a free man and to state what I have seen and heard. This benefits Singaporeans and the world at large. If I did not say what I saw, I would in fact be hiding the truth.”
Saying that although he has migrated to the United States and is now a US citizen, he has been “closely monitoring the political situation in Singapore”. He added that his efforts “are directed to (sic) the plight of human beings who are denied their human rights and how I can expose the injustices they suffer.”
“In the US where I come from, the judiciary just as any other government or official body is open to criticism and they accept it as necessary for the advancement and improvement of the administration of justice”, he explained.
Nair said that after attending the three day court sitting for the assessment of damages in the lawsuit brought by Mr Lee Hsien Loong and Mr Lee Kuan Yew against the Singapore Democratic Party’s chief Dr Chee Soon Juan and SDP Central Executive Committee member Ms Chee Siok Chin, he had “no doubt at all that this Judge was clearly unfair towards Dr. Chee and Siok Chin and she did not appear to conduct herself as an impartial judge in court sitting in judgment between the parties.”
It was, he said, “necessary for me as a human being, to make it public and to the world what this court actually was, since they would not have had the luxury of being in court during the 3 days.”
Nair said that it was not his intention to ‘malign or cause distress to anyone’.
“It was never my intention to malign or cause distress to anyone and if the words that I had used had this effect, I withdraw them and apologize. But as far as the contents of my blog post; as to the events that occurred during the 3 days in court, it is an accurate observation which I have stated under my right as a free man”, he said.
You can read Mr Nair’s full press release here.
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