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Singapore opposition leader sentenced to jail for contempt


A Singapore opposition leader who is among a rare few to publicly challenge the country's rulers was sentenced Monday to 12 days' jail for contempt, in the latest legal ruling against him.

A judge ruled Chee Soon Juan, 45, secretary general of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), had been in contempt because he said justice had been "raped" and "kicked" during a defamation case filed by Singapore's leaders against him.

He remains free but Supreme Court Justice Belinda Ang Saw Ean ruled that Chee will be jailed if he does not file an appeal by late Wednesday.

Ang also sentenced Chee's sister, SDP member Chee Siok Chin, to 10 days in jail for contempt. She, too, is free pending appeal.

Monday's hearing briefly brought Chee and the city-state's other outspoken opposition figure, J.B. Jeyaretnam, 82, together in a rare public joining of forces by the country's tiny opposition.

Jeyaretnam appeared in court as Chee's lawyer but later withdrew at Chee's request when Ang declined his application for more time to prepare his case. The lawyer said he had only received relevant transcripts the previous morning.

Jeyaretnam last month filed papers to register the new opposition Reform Party. He made political history in 1981 when he became the first opposition politician elected to parliament, which has been dominated by the People's Action Party (PAP) since 1959.

Ang rejected Jeyaretnam's argument that she withdraw from the contempt case. He said that since the contempt allegations arose from an earlier hearing before her, there could be a public perception of bias.

"I would urge your honour to consider very seriously whether you should hear this case," Jeyaretnam said.
"There is no option," the judge responded.

Chee, his sister, and their party have already been found guilty of libelling Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew and his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

The contempt proceedings stemmed from comments they made during a three-day hearing before Ang last week to determine libel damages in that case.

Chee told the judge he did not intend to be in contempt and anything said came in "the heat of the battle" with his political opponents.

"Mr Lee had said a few things. I had countered them," Chee said.

In 2006 he was jailed for a then-unprecedented eight days for contempt after questioning the integrity of the judicial system in a statement he read during his bankruptcy hearing earlier that year.

He was declared bankrupt after failing to pay 500,000 Singapore dollars (366,837 US) in libel damages to Lee Kuan Yew and another former prime minister over remarks made in 2001.
Last Friday a judge fined Chee for speaking in public without a permit ahead of a general election in 2006. He will be jailed for five weeks if he does not pay the 5,000-dollar fine, the judge ruled.
Chee has served previous jail terms for convictions on similar charges.

His latest sentence came as a California-based blogger who allegedly accused Ang of "prostituting herself" appeared in another Singapore courtroom.

According to a court document, Gopalan Nair is charged with insulting Ang by sending an email which said she "was throughout prostituting herself during the entire proceedings, by being nothing more than an employee of Mr Lee Kuan Yew and his son and carrying out their orders".
Nair's lawyer Chia Ti Lik told AFP the comments essentially repeated those Nair made in a recent blog about the defamation case.

A US embassy spokesman said it is "monitoring the case closely."

Nair, a former Singapore lawyer who is now a US citizen, was remanded in custody for another week.

The Lees have already won hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages from past lawsuits against members of the country's opposition and say they need to protect their reputations from unfounded attacks.