JURIST - Paper Chase: Singapore charges US blogger for insulting judge

[JURIST] A Singapore court Monday charged a US citizen and former Singapore lawyer with insulting a public servant after he published critical comments about a judge on his blog. California-based Gopalan Nair [firm profile] was arrested last week after accusing a judge presiding over a defamation case brought by former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew [official profile] against the Singapore Democratic Party of "prostituting herself" [blog entry]. Nair made the comments about Justice Belinda Ang [official profile] after observing a hearing in the case, where he perceived Ang as being unfairly favorable to Lee. Authorities originally accused Nair of sending an insulting email to Ang, a charge Nair denied [press release, PDF]. Earlier this month, Nair was also charged with sending an insulting email to another judge, Lai Siu Chiu, in 2006. AFP has more. Reuters has additional coverage.

Before becoming a US citizen, Nair was a Singapore opposition politician. In 1991, he unsuccessfully ran for office as a member of the Singapore Worker's Party [party website]. The Straits Times has local coverage.

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