Editor of Singapore News Site Jailed
An editor of a shuttered Singapore website accused of publishing a letter alleging corruption among government ministers was jailed for three weeks on Thursday for defamation.
The Online Citizen’s Facebook page | Photo Credits: Coconuts.
There are concerns that the situation in tightly controlled Singapore is worsening to the point where authorities are using heavy-handed tactics to suppress dissent. The Online Citizen, a site that frequently criticized authorities, had its operating license revoked in October for failure to declare its funding sources.
Terry Xu, former chief editor of TOC, was convicted the following month of defaming cabinet members by publishing a letter stating "corruption at the highest levels.". On Thursday, district judge Ng Peng Hong sentenced Xu to three weeks in jail.
In his sentencing remarks, Ng stated that he considered a jail term to be justified based on "the nature of the allegation, the standing of the defamed parties as well as the wide distribution of the publication". The letter's author, Daniel De Costa, was also sentenced to three months and three weeks in prison.
In 2014, he was convicted of defamation and violating computer crime laws for sending the opinion piece from another person's email account without their consent. On Facebook, Xu stated that he had chosen to serve his sentence immediately, despite plans to appeal the conviction. "I am not afraid of the jail sentence imposed upon me and strongly deny the charge placed before me," he wrote. Earlier, he had argued that the letter did not refer to specific members of the cabinet. Last year, Xu and another TOC writer were ordered to pay substantial damages after losing a defamation suit against Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Media outlets that support the government dominate Singapore's media landscape. In the Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index, the city-state ranks 160th out of 180 countries and territories. Number one indicates the country with the greatest freedom for media.
