http://www.channelnewsasia.com/new/...li-shengwu-for-contempt-of-court-over-9094174
SINGAPORE: The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) filed an application in the High Court on Friday (Aug 4), to start committal proceedings against Mr Li Shengwu for contempt of court.
This was after Mr Li failed to take down a Facebook post which he put up on Jul 15, criticising the Singapore court system as “pliant”.
“The Singapore government is very litigious and has a pliant court system. This constrains what the international media can usually report,” said the post by Mr Li, who is the nephew of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and eldest son of Mr Lee Hsien Yang.
The post, which was set to “friends only” in Facebook’s privacy settings, also included a link to a 2010 editorial published by the New York Times, titled “Censored in Singapore.”
This prompted the AGC to issue a warning letter to Mr Li on Jul 21, asking him to “purge the contempt” by deleting the post from his Facebook page and other online platforms.
He was also asked to “issue and post prominently” on his Facebook page, a written apology and undertaking in the terms stated in AGC’s letter.
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According to the AGC, it had given Mr Li until 5pm on Jul 28 to do this. But he wrote back a day before the deadline to request an extension until 5pm on Aug 4, to which the AGC said it agreed.
“As Mr Li has failed to purge the contempt and to apologise by the extended deadline, an application for leave to commence committal proceedings for contempt against him will today be filed in the High Court,” said the AGC in its statement on Friday.
Mr Li, an academic at Harvard University, had earlier said on Friday said it was not his intention to attack the Singapore judiciary or to undermine public confidence in the administration of justice.
“If my private post is read in context, it is evident that I did not attack the Singapore judiciary,” Mr Li wrote in a public post. “Any criticism I made is of the Singapore government’s litigious nature, and its use of legal rules and actions to stifle the free press.”
“However, to avoid any misunderstanding of my original private post, I have amended the post so as to clarify my meaning,” he added. The setting on that Facebook post remains private, meaning it cannot be viewed publicly.
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Trump should really impose sanctions now!
SINGAPORE: The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) filed an application in the High Court on Friday (Aug 4), to start committal proceedings against Mr Li Shengwu for contempt of court.
This was after Mr Li failed to take down a Facebook post which he put up on Jul 15, criticising the Singapore court system as “pliant”.
“The Singapore government is very litigious and has a pliant court system. This constrains what the international media can usually report,” said the post by Mr Li, who is the nephew of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and eldest son of Mr Lee Hsien Yang.
The post, which was set to “friends only” in Facebook’s privacy settings, also included a link to a 2010 editorial published by the New York Times, titled “Censored in Singapore.”
This prompted the AGC to issue a warning letter to Mr Li on Jul 21, asking him to “purge the contempt” by deleting the post from his Facebook page and other online platforms.
He was also asked to “issue and post prominently” on his Facebook page, a written apology and undertaking in the terms stated in AGC’s letter.
Advertisement
According to the AGC, it had given Mr Li until 5pm on Jul 28 to do this. But he wrote back a day before the deadline to request an extension until 5pm on Aug 4, to which the AGC said it agreed.
“As Mr Li has failed to purge the contempt and to apologise by the extended deadline, an application for leave to commence committal proceedings for contempt against him will today be filed in the High Court,” said the AGC in its statement on Friday.
Mr Li, an academic at Harvard University, had earlier said on Friday said it was not his intention to attack the Singapore judiciary or to undermine public confidence in the administration of justice.
“If my private post is read in context, it is evident that I did not attack the Singapore judiciary,” Mr Li wrote in a public post. “Any criticism I made is of the Singapore government’s litigious nature, and its use of legal rules and actions to stifle the free press.”
“However, to avoid any misunderstanding of my original private post, I have amended the post so as to clarify my meaning,” he added. The setting on that Facebook post remains private, meaning it cannot be viewed publicly.
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Trump should really impose sanctions now!
