Peter Low Alex Au Choo ZX Christine LowBlogger Alex Au was fined $8,000 today, 5 March for contempt of court over an article he wrote on his blog in October 2013. Mr Au’s article had allegedly implied that the Chief Justice showed partiality towards two constitutional challenges against Section 377A, the law which criminalises sex between men.

Mr Au, 62, insisted that his article made no such references, and said he would be appealing against the decision by Justice Belinda Ang. Meanwhile, he will pay the fine first.

The Attorney-General’s Chambers had initially asked for a fine of at least $10,000.

The AGC has earlier charged him for contempt for two articles. The other article, “Church sacks employee and sues government” made reference to a man who was allegedly harassed by his employer for his homosexuality, was cleared of contempt charges.

In that article, Mr Au had wrote that he did not have high hopes for the case as his confidence in the judiciary was “as limp as a flag on a windless day”.

However, Justice Ang had decided that only first article, “377 wheels come off Supreme Court’s best laid plans”, was in contempt as it unfairly suggested that the Chief Justice had acted impartially, which she ruled risked undermining public confidence in the administration of justice in Singapore.

International advocacy group Human Rights Watch has earlier said that Mr Au’s conviction violates free speech and “merely highlight the injustice of Singapore’s archaic crime of ‘scandalizing the judiciary”.

“Singapore’s courts, like any other public institution, are strengthened, not weakened, by open debate on issues of general concern,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The prosecution of Alex Au for speaking out is just one more example of Singapore’s willingness to misuse law to gag its critics.”

Subscribe
Notify of
58 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

More rats problems at Marina Square and Teck Ghee

In two separate reports, the local press have highlighted more rats problems,…

It would be 'economic madness' to allow the market to sort itself out under catastrophic conditions, says Yeoh Lam Keong

On Saturday, the Workers’ Party (WP) Youth Wing organised a love online…

Prof Donald Low calls out Singaporeans for 'petitionary culture' following mum who complained that PSLE was a nightmare

Days after the mathematics paper of the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE),…

【冠状病毒19】7月24日新增277确诊 五社区病例

根据卫生部文告,截至本月24日中午12时,本地新增277例冠状病毒19确诊,有多达五例时社区病例。 新增确诊病患大多是住宿舍客工,五例社区病例中,有两人是本地公民或永久居民,三人是工作证件持有人。 此外,也有两例入境病例,在抵境后已遵守居家通知。 本地累计确诊病例,已增至4万9375例。