Contempt of court: Blogger to face legal action

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Blogger Alex Au is facing contempt of court action for one of his blog posts after the ruling of a High Court judge on Wednesday.

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File photo: Blogger Alex Au. (Photo: yawningbread.wordpress.com)

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SINGAPORE - Blogger Alex Au is facing contempt of court action for one of his blog posts after the ruling of a High Court judge on Wednesday.


On Monday, the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) filed for an application to bring a contempt of court action against Mr Au over two posts published on his blog Yawning Bread last month.


Justice Belinda Ang however ruled on Wednesday that the AGC can proceed with contempt of court action on one of his blog posts titled "377 Wheels Come Off Supreme Court's Best-Laid Plans" published on October 5 but not on the blog post published on October 12 titled "Church Sacks Employee And Sues Government - On One Ground Right, On Another Ground Wrong".


In the first post, Mr Au allegedly said that there was a plan to "deliberately manipulate hearing dates" to allow Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon to determine the constitutionality of Section 377A - which criminalises sex between men.


In the second post, the AGC said Mr Au had insinuated that the Singapore judiciary is "incompetent and/or biased" when he commented that he "did not have high hopes" for an application seeking a declaration that Article 12 of the Constitution prohibits discrimination against gay men on account of their sexual orientation in the course of employment.


On Tuesday, Justice Ang was supposed to hear the application from the AGC but adjourned it for a day after Mr Au's lawyer turned up unexpectedly. Mr Au has appointed lawyers Mr Peter Low and Mr Choo Zheng Xi.

In a closed-door hearing on Wednesday, Justice Ang allowed Mr Au's lawyers to hold the watching brief - which means they could watch the proceedings but not make any submissions. They are also not allowed to oppose to the application.


Posting on his Facebook page on Wednesday, Mr Au said he was told by his lawyers that Justice Ang felt the AGC had "failed to make out a prima facie case" on his October 12 post.


Asked if it has told Mr Au to remove the blog post, an AGC spokesperson said: "We have not made any requests of Au and are not in a position to comment on what he intends to do."


The AGC will now have 14 days to file an application with the High Court for what is known as an order of committal.


Thereafter, court papers including the summons, statement and affidavits, will be served on Mr Au.

A hearing date will only be scheduled after that.


This is not the first time Mr Au has faced legal action over his blog posts.


He was sent lawyer's letters from Law Minister K Shanmugam and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong over separate allegedly defamatory postings.


He removed those posts subsequently.


In July this year, he also apologised for a post alleging that plastic surgeon Woffles Wu had received special treatment over a speeding offence after it was deemed to be in contempt of court.



-TODAY/ir


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