The Singapore High Court on Wednesday found a British author guilty of insulting the city-state’s judiciary in a book on the death penalty in Singapore. Alan Shadrake, 75, would be sentenced for contempt of court next Tuesday.
The Briton is likely to face a possible jail term, a fine or both.
"This is a case about someone who says among other things the judges in Singapore are not impartial... (and are) influenced by political and economic situations and biased against the weak and the poor," Justice Quentin Loh said on Wednesday. Loh said Shadrake had been "selective" in the way he wrote about Singapore in the book which could mislead readers about the city-state's judiciary, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) report.
"Shadrake's technique is to make or insinuate his claims against a dissembling and selective background of truths and half-truths, and sometimes outright falsehoods," Loh said in his judgement.
Based on interviews with a former executioner, human rights activists and police officers, Shadrake in his book Once a Jolly Hangman: Singapore Justice in the Dock described several death penalty cases. It accused courts of bowing to diplomatic and economic pressure in deciding how to dispense justice. It also accused them of favouring the wealthy and abusing the law to suppress political opponents. The book includes a profile of a former chief executioner and interviews with human rights activists, lawyers and former police officers.
Based in Malaysia, Shadrake was arrested in Singapore in July following a launch of his book in the city-state. He is out on bail but his passport has been impounded.
Judge Loh said he was giving Shadrake "a final opportunity to make amends". The author, who has refused to apologise, said after the ruling that he would "work out how to do this and satisfy the court".
In a statement earlier this week, Shadrake had said, "I am being prosecuted and facing jail for exposing prosecutorial scandals in Singapore - scandals this PAP dictatorship doesn't want decent Singaporean citizens to know about. One particular heinous scandal concerns Guiga Lyes Ben Laroussi, a Tunisian and valuable 'foreign talent' who was the main drug supplier to Singapore's so-called High Society Drug Circle in 2004. This destroyer of lives was allowed to escape Singapore after facing a mandatory death penalty charge. The charge was then negotiated down so he would receive a jail sentence of between 20 and 30 years in prison instead."
The judgment has understandably evoked criticism. “This judgement creates a chilling effect on freedom of speech, for Singaporeans and foreigners alike,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Director for the Asia-Pacific. “Singapore’s criminal prosecution of Shadrake only underscores the country’s poor record of respect for freedom of expression,” he said.
