International Law
Calif. Lawyer Arrested in Singapore for Criticizing Judge in Blog and E-Mail
Posted Jun 3, 2008, 04:43 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A California immigration lawyer has been arrested in Singapore on charges he insulted a judge in an e-mail and on his blog.
Gopalan Nair, a former citizen of Singapore, was charged with “threatening, abusing or insulting a public servant,” Reuters reports. He faces a sentence of up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $5,000.
Nair had attended a hearing on defamation damages to be paid by the leader of an opposition party to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his father, former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew. Nair cross-examined the elder Lee and accused him of sacrificing liberty and human rights, according to a report by the Southeast Asian Press Alliance.
Nair accused the judge in an e-mail sent to news organizations and posted on his blog of favoring the Lees and “prostituting herself during the entire proceedings.” Agence France-Presse reports Nair taunted authorities on his blog to come arrest him, writing, “I am now within your jurisdiction. … What are you going to do about it?”
Nair is a critic of Singapore’s ruling party and once ran for office as a member of the opposition Workers’ Party.
A hat tip to Legal Blog Watch, which posted the news.