Tuesday 14 October 2008

Singapore launches contempt case over kangaroo picture

Singapore’s attorney general has launched legal action against three people who allegedly scandalised the judiciary by wearing pictures of a kangaroo wearing a judge’s gown, the government said Tuesday.
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  1. Singapore launches contempt case over kangaroo picture

    AFP
    14 October 2008

    Singapore’s attorney general has launched legal action against three people who allegedly scandalised the judiciary by wearing pictures of a kangaroo wearing a judge’s gown, the government said Tuesday.

    It did not name the individuals but said they wore shirts with pictures of a kangaroo dressed in a judge’s gown on certain dates in May within and near the Supreme Court building.

    The protesters’ action coincided with a court hearing to assess damages in a libel case filed by Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew and his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, a government news release said.

    A judge earlier found the Lees were libelled by the opposition Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), its secretary general Chee Soon Juan and his sister, Chee Siok Chin, a party member.

    “The attorney-general has applied to the High Court for contempt proceedings to be instituted against three individuals who scandalised the Singapore judiciary by publicly wearing identical white T-shirts, imprinted with a palm-sized picture of a kangaroo dressed in a judge’s gown,” the government statement said.

    The announcement came one day after a High Court judge ruled on damages in the libel case. She ordered Chee and his sister, who are already bankrupt, along with the party, to pay a total of 610,000 dollars (417,000 US) to the Lees.

    Chee and his sister have been among the few to publicly challenge the People’s Action Party which has ruled the tightly-governed city-state since 1959.

    In June, Chee and his sister were sentenced to Singapore’s longest-ever jail terms for contempt of court, for their conduct during the hearing to assess the libel damages.

    Chee was sentenced to 12 days in prison and his sister to 10.

    The SDP leader was earlier declared bankrupt after failing to pay 500,000 Singapore dollars in libel damages to Lee Kuan Yew and another former prime minister over remarks made in 2001.

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