Agence France-Presse - 3/13/2009 3:57 PM GMT
http://news.sg.msn.com/regional/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2806326
Singapore sues another Wall Street Journal editor: report
The Singapore government is taking legal action against another editor at The Wall Street Journal over articles allegedly casting doubt on the judiciary's integrity, a report said Friday.
A High Court Judge granted an application by the attorney-general to begin contempt proceedings against Melanie Kirkpatrick, a deputy editor with the New York-based business newspaper's editorial page, the Straits Times said in its online edition.
Kirkpatrick was responsible for "actions which resulted in the publication and distribution" of three articles published in the WSJ's sister newspaper, The Wall Street Journal Asia, the Straits Times said, citing court documents.
The articles "contained passages that scandalise the Singapore judiciary," the report said.
Also facing contempt proceedings are the newspaper's international editor Daniel Hertzberg and managing editor Christine Glancey.
Published in June and July last year, the articles involved two editorials and a letter by Singapore pro-democracy activist Chee Soon Juan in The Wall Street Journal Asia.
A spokesman for the Dow Jones Publishing Company (Asia) Inc, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal Asia, declined to comment when contacted by AFP.
Singapore's High Court in November found the company to be in contempt of court over the articles and it was fined more than 16,000 US dollars.
The fine was the largest-ever levied for a case of this kind in Singapore.
Singapore's leaders have won hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages from defamation suits filed against critics and foreign publications.
International human rights groups have accused Singapore leaders of using the courts to stifle dissent, but the officials argue this is necessary to protect their reputation from unfounded attacks.
