18 Apr 2013 6:15 PM
SINGAPORE: The Attorney-General Chambers (AGC) has issued
take-down letters and demanded apologies from several websites over
posts which it said cast doubt on the judiciary's integrity in a
case involving a China national.
The websites and Facebook pages involved had suggested that a
Singapore court had been lenient to Yuan Zhenghua, 31, who hijacked
a taxi last year and crashed it into the driveway of Changi
Airport's budget terminal, killing a Malaysian airport worker.
Yuan, a technician, was sentenced by a district court to 25
months in jail Monday.
Singaporeans took to Internet websites and Facebook pages to
criticise the verdict, prompting the AGC to issue letters asking
for an apology and that the postings be taken down.
A spokesman for the AGC said the online comments and postings
had accused the court of bias in favour of the China national.
"These comments include allegations that the courts did not wish
to offend the People's Republic of China, that Singaporeans would
get heavier sentences in comparison, that the judge lacked
integrity, and that leniency was shown," the spokesman said.
"These and similar comments pose a real risk that public
confidence in the administration of justice would be
undermined."
The spokesman added that the online comments ignored the fact
that the court took into account Yuan's "psychotic disorder" in its
decision.
The AGC also stressed that editors, administrators and
moderators of websites have the responsibility to ensure that
comments and posts on their sites are not contemptuous.
While the AGC did not identify the websites involved, the
administrators of Facebook page "EDMW loves Singapore" put up an
apology for committing an "act of contempt of court" in its posts
about Yuan and said it had taken them down.
The government says attacks on the judiciary will undermine
public confidence in the institution.
In July last year, the AGC also sent a letter to prominent
Singaporean blogger Alex Au after he alleged in a post that the
city-state's courts are biased in favour of the well-connected.
In 2010, a Singapore court jailed British author Alan Shadrake
for six weeks for publishing a book critical of the city-state's
administration of the death penalty.
- AFP/CNA/jc
