Blogger Facing Trial for 'Insulting' Singapore Judges

Obviously we cannot tell another country how to enforce their owns laws, but this is an ominous sign for freedom of speech on the web.

You can bet your last dollar as well there are enough petty tyrants on the bench and in public office in this country who would gladly have bloggers silenced in such fashion.

A US national said Tuesday he will be tried in Singapore next month for allegedly insulting two judges who had presided over cases involving an opposition leader.

Gopalan Nair, a former Singaporean lawyer who is now a US citizen, told AFP he has not yet hired a lawyer to represent him in the trial from September 8-19.

"At this moment, I am representing myself," he said.

Nair faces two charges of insulting judges on his blog. Each charge carries a jail term of up to one year, a 5,000 Singapore dollar fine (3,676 US) or both.

In the first charge, he is accused of insulting Justice Belinda Ang, who presided over a defamation case where Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew and his son Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong testified against the leader of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party (SDP).

Nair, 58, alleged that Ang was "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," a court document said.

In the second charge, Nair is alleged to have sent an e-mail to Supreme Court Justice Lai Siu Chiu in 2006 saying he has "no shame" and that judges "are selling their souls and their conscience for money," according to a court document.

While I'm certainly not versed on Singapore law, it seems to me Nair was simply stating his own opinions and wasn't slandering anyone. Thank goodness we in the USA at least have the ability to state our own views without fear of punishment.

For now...