A court in Singapore has convicted a gay rights activist and blogger on a contempt of court charge for being critical of the judiciary in the handling of a case pertaining to the city-state’s anti-gay law.
Alex Au Waipan, 61, who runs the Yawning Bread blog is most likely to face a fine, jail time or both following the Jan. 22 decision from Singapore’s High Court, international media reported.
Au was convicted over a 2013 blog piece he wrote suggesting that judges had manipulated court dates on a constitutional challenge to a law criminalizing sex between men.
Au's article suggested that the "as the Chief Justice wanted to hear one case, Supreme Court deliberately delayed the determination of another case so that the outcome of the first case would likely have an influence on the outcome of the second case," it was reported.
His article “poses or would pose a real risk of undermining public confidence in the administration of justice in Singapore,” Justice Belinda Ang Saw Fan wrote in the decision, according to the AFP news service.
The court ruled that another post written by Au which said that the courts were biased against gay people did not violate the law.
"We are deeply troubled by Alex Au Waipang's conviction," said the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney. "It is this verdict, not Au's writing, that undermines public confidence in the judiciary."
Freedom House, a US-based rights group also said that the Singapore judiciary systematically returns verdicts in the government’s favor and that journalists and other commentators who raise questions regarding judicial impartiality are vulnerable to contempt charges.
Au is openly gay. “I have known I was gay since, what? my early teens…I have never been “confused” nor ridden with guilt and conflict,” he says in his blog Yawning Bread blog where articles either are about gay issues, or at least tangentially touch on same-sex relations.
In October, the highest court in Singapore upheld the country’s colonial-era law criminalizing gay sex when it rejected cases brought by three men, who said the law which penalizes sex between men infringes their human rights under Singapore’s constitution.
Singapore courts are consistent in throwing out anti-gay discrimination lawsuits citing the Section 377A law in Singapore’s penal code. The British colonial-era law criminalizes same-sex relations and carries a maximum penalty of two years in jail.
Gay rights activists have been advocating to get the law repealed but with little success.
A court in Singapore has convicted a gay rights activist and blogger on a contempt of court charge for being critical of the judiciary in the handling of a case pertaining to the city-state’s anti-gay law.
Alex Au Waipan, 61, who runs the Yawning Bread blog is most likely to face a fine, jail time or both following the Jan. 22 decision from Singapore’s High Court, international media reported.
Au was convicted over a 2013 blog piece he wrote suggesting that judges had manipulated court dates on a constitutional challenge to a law criminalizing sex between men.
Au's article suggested that the "as the Chief Justice wanted to hear one case, Supreme Court deliberately delayed the determination of another case so that the outcome of the first case would likely have an influence on the outcome of the second case," it was reported.
His article “poses or would pose a real risk of undermining public confidence in the administration of justice in Singapore,” Justice Belinda Ang Saw Fan wrote in the decision, according to the AFP news service.
The court ruled that another post written by Au which said that the courts were biased against gay people did not violate the law.
"We are deeply troubled by Alex Au Waipang's conviction," said the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney. "It is this verdict, not Au's writing, that undermines public confidence in the judiciary."
Freedom House, a US-based rights group also said that the Singapore judiciary systematically returns verdicts in the government’s favor and that journalists and other commentators who raise questions regarding judicial impartiality are vulnerable to contempt charges.
Au is openly gay. “I have known I was gay since, what? my early teens…I have never been “confused” nor ridden with guilt and conflict,” he says in his blog Yawning Bread blog where articles either are about gay issues, or at least tangentially touch on same-sex relations.
In October, the highest court in Singapore upheld the country’s colonial-era law criminalizing gay sex when it rejected cases brought by three men, who said the law which penalizes sex between men infringes their human rights under Singapore’s constitution.
Singapore courts are consistent in throwing out anti-gay discrimination lawsuits citing the Section 377A law in Singapore’s penal code. The British colonial-era law criminalizes same-sex relations and carries a maximum penalty of two years in jail.
Gay rights activists have been advocating to get the law repealed but with little success.
