Singapore editor jailed for defamation over corruption claims

The editor of a now-closed Singaporean information outlet has been jailed for three weeks for defamation over a letter printed on the positioning that alleged corruption amongst authorities ministers.

Terry Xu, the previous editor of the Online Citizen, was convicted final yr for the publication of a letter that stated there was “corruption at the highest echelons”.

The Online Citizen was identified for its comparatively liberal stance and for that includes criticism of the authorities within the city-state, the place media is tightly managed. It was closed final yr after Singapore’s media regulator rescinded its licence, stating it had did not declare the sources of its funding.

The regulator the Infocomm Media Development Authority stated it was needed for the positioning to take action to keep away from international actors from influencing home politics. Xu had stated he didn’t wish to betray the confidentiality of the positioning’s subscribers.

Xu’s jailing provides to fears over worsening of media freedoms in Singapore, which ranks one hundred and sixtieth out of 180 territories in Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index, behind Belarus and Russia.

On Thursday, the district decide Ng Peng Hong stated a jail time period was warranted for Xu contemplating “the nature of the allegation, the standing of the defamed parties, as well as the wide spread of the publication”.

The creator of the letter, Daniel De Costa Augustin, was sentenced to a few months and three weeks, after he was convicted of defamation and breaking pc crime legal guidelines for sending the letter from one other particular person’s e-mail account with out their consent.

In a press release posted on Facebook after the sentencing, Xu described the cost towards him and the police investigation as “selective and unfair”. The letter had made no point out of people or entities, he stated.

“I am opting to serve my sentence with immediate effect and not asking for a stay of sentence even though I am appealing against the conviction. I am not afraid of the jail sentence imposed upon me and strongly deny the charge placed before me,” Xu stated.

Separately, Xu and one other Online Citizen author had been ordered to pay substantial damages final yr after dropping a defamation swimsuit towards the prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong.

Rights teams and press freedom advocates accuse Singapore of utilizing defamation fits and different draconian legal guidelines to suppress vital protection.

Last yr, parliament handed a international interference regulation that granted broad powers to the authorities, together with the flexibility to compel web service suppliers and social media platforms to supply person data and block content material they deem hostile. A pretend information regulation got here into impact in 2019, which gave ministers the facility to order social media websites to place warnings subsequent to posts they take into account false.

AFP contributed to this report.

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