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Feer fails in appeal to dismiss defamation suit
THE Far Eastern Economic Review (Feer) and its editor failed in its
final bid to get a defamation suit brought against them dismissed
on Friday.
The Court of Appeal, in turning the Hong Kong-based magazine's
appeal down with costs, said it saw no merit in its appeal and that
they agreed with the previous High Court ruling on the issue.
This is the third time Feer has appealed against the court's
decision to dismiss their bid to strike out the defamation
suit.
Feer and its editor Hugo Restall failed in their first bid last
November. They then appealed to the High Court against that
decision but were turned down.
They appealed again and were heard by then-Judicial Commissioner
Sundaresh Menon. But he too dismissed Feer's appeal in Febuary in a
64-page written judgement.
Following Friday's ruling, Feer will have to file a defence for the
defamation suit by Aug 14.
The magazine's editor and publisher Review Publishing are being
sued for defamation by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Minister
Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, for an article published in July last
year.
It questioned, among other things, Singapore's reputation for
'squeaky-clean government' and suggested libel suits are used
against critics to cover up 'real misdeeds'.
The Lees' lawyers have argued that the article was calculated to
disparage both leaders by suggesting they were corrupt and unfit
for office, and that they would sue and suppress those who question
them as the questions would expose their corruption.
In court on Friday, the three judge panel, comprising Chief Justice
Chan Sek Keong, Justice V K Rajah and Justice Andrew Phang, heard
both lawyers for the Lees and Feer present their cases.
Feer's lawyer Mr Peter Low relied on two main arguments when making
his case.
One was that the Lees had asked the court to extend its
jurisdiction beyond Singapore as their claim for damages was not
limited to what was applicable here.
On this point, Judge Andrew Phang noted that the Lee's lawyers had
made a declaration stating they had no intention of making claims
outside of Singapore.
Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, representing the Lees, added that
his clients were concerned with how the Feer article affected their
reputation among Singaporeans and not among foreigners.
