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Singapore judge fines WSJ-Asia editor for criticizing judiciary

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] A judge for the Supreme Court of Singapore ruled Thursday that a Wall Journal Journal Asia (WSJ-Asia) editor was in contempt of court and personally liable for damages for publishing two editorials and a letter that criticized the impartiality of the city-state's judiciary. Judge Tay Yong Kwang ordered Melanie Kirkpatrick to pay USD $13,000 in fines and court costs for being in charge of the newspaper's editorial section when the articles were published. The case is the second such contempt of court case brought by the Singapore attorney general over the same articles. In October, Tay held that publisher Daniel Hertzberg and proprietor Christine Glancery, were in contempt of Court and fined them USD $16,500 plus court costs. In the complaint, the attorney general argued it was important to pursue contempt of court charges against individual members of the WSJ-Asia to serve as a deterrence against future such publications.The Applicant's objective in bringing these proceedings against the Respondent is to ensure that the editor who is responsible for the publication of the 3 offending items in WSJ Asia is held accountable for her actions. The Applicant's understanding of the representations from the Respondent's solicitors that the Respondent is in charge of the day-to-day operations of the 'Editorials and Opinion' section of the WSJ Asia and has final editorial responsibility over its contents is that the Respondent is directly responsible for the publication of the 3 offending items in WSJ Asia.Kirkpatrick did not contest the charges and the attorney general urged a stiff penalty against her, in light of a previous contempt of court fine against her for USD $2,600 in 1985. In July, the Singapore government rejected claims by the International Bar Association's Human Rights Division that the country lacks an independent judiciary. In September, a Singapore Supreme Court judge sentenced US blogger and lawyer Gopalan Nair to three months in jail after he accused a judge "prostituting herself" in a defamation case brought by former Singapore prime minister Lee Kuan Yew. The Singapore penal code punishes insulting a public servant conducting a judicial proceeding with up to one year in prison, a fine, or both.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on March 19, 2009 (boomark / email).