Singapore's attorney-general's office is taking legal action
against the Wall Street Journal Asia and two editors over articles
allegedly casting doubt on the judiciary's integrity, it said.
A statement on the website of the Attorney-General's Chambers
said the articles "impugn on the impartiality, integrity and
independence of the Singapore judiciary."
The High Court has granted permission for the contempt
proceedings to be initiated, a court spokesperson told AFP.
Facing contempt charges are the newspaper's publisher Dow Jones
Publishing Company (Asia), Inc, international editor Daniel
Hertzberg and managing editor Christine Glancey, according to the
statement.
The articles, which were published in June and July, involve two
editorials and a letter by Singapore pro-democracy activist Chee
Soon Juan.
"The items allege that the Singapore judiciary is not
independent. It is further insinuated that the Singapore judiciary
is biased and lacks integrity," the statement said.
"These allegations and insinuations in these items are
unwarranted."
Singaporean leaders have won hundreds of thousands of dollars in
damages in defamation cases against critics and foreign
publications, which they say are necessary to protect their
reputation from unfounded attacks.
In a recent case, founding father Lee Kuan Yew and his son,
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, sued the editor of the Hong
Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER) and its owners,
alleging defamation in an article centred on an interview with
Chee.
The government has also banned distribution of the magazine,
which is the Wall Street Journal Asia's sister publication, saying
it had failed to comply with media regulations.
Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has
persistently ranked Singapore in the bottom of its annual index of
press freedom.
But the attorney-general said the case against the Wall Street
Journal Asia was not about freedom of expression but about the rule
of law.
"An unwarranted attack against the integrity, impartiality and
independence of the Singapore judiciary is an assault on the rule
of law in Singapore," it said.
Source: MSN News
