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Singapore
Opposition politician Jailed for contempt of court
AFP
17
Mar 06
One
of Singapore's few opposition politicians, Chee Soon Juan, has
been sentenced to one day in jail and fined for contempt of court
after questioning the integrity of the judicial system.
It
is the first time a Singapore court has jailed anyone for an
offense known as "scandalizing the court".
Chee
Soon Juan, secretary general of the Singapore Democratic Party,
would be given a longer jail term of seven days if he did not pay
the fine of 6,000 Singapore dollars (3,700 US) by 5:00 pm (0900
GMT), Justice Lai Siu Chiu of the High Court said.
"This
is probably one of the worst cases that has come before the court
for scandalizing the judiciary," Lai told him.
The
attorney general lodged the contempt application with the High
Court after a February 10 hearing at which Chee was declared
bankrupt.
That declaration followed his failure to pay
500,000 Singapore dollars (307,000 US) in damages to the
city-state's founding father Lee Kuan Yew and another former
prime minister, Goh Chok Tong.
Lee, Goh and other members
of the People's Action Party, which has ruled Singapore since
independence in 1965, have a history of taking legal action
against their political opponents and media critics. They argue
they do so to protect their reputations.
Chee's lawyer M.
Ravi, told reporters outside court that he doubted Chee has the
money to pay the contempt fine, meaning he would spend the
additional week in jail.
Chee, 43, was also ordered to pay
legal costs.
Justice Lai convicted Chee for contempt of
court on Thursday for comments against Singapore's judicial
system at an earlier hearing.
The contempt proceedings
stemmed for a three-page statement which Chee read during his
bankruptcy hearing last month, and circulated in
public.
Singapore's second solicitor general Lee Seiu Kin
quoted Chee as saying in his statement that the Singapore
judiciary "is, sadly, not independent especially when it
comes to dealing with opposition politicians."
Lee
described Chee's statement as a "scurrilous attack on the
integrity, independence and fairness of the Singapore judiciary".
He said the statement contained "untruths, half-truths and
baseless allegations."
Chee's statement referred to
cases of other opposition politicians including that of J.B.
Jeyaretnam "who has suffered the most under this legal
tyranny."
Jeyaretnam, 80, was the first opposition
member of parliament to break the PAP's hold on seats, but has
been left bankrupt after his own legal battles with the ruling
party.
Chee's statement, as cited by Lee, also contained
comments by Amnesty International, the International Commission
of Jurists, the New York City Bar Association and a former
Singapore solicitor general, Francis Seow -- all of whom
questioned the integrity of the judicial system.
Singapore's
judicial system has been praised by foreign investors for its
efficiency in processing cases but criticised by human rights
groups for, among other things, maintaining the practice of
capital punishment by hanging.
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