SINGAPORE (Jan 4, 2007): The trial of Singapore's most vocal opposition leader for trying to leave the country without permission was postponed today for the second day in a row.
Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) chief Chee Soon Juan told Judge Aedit Abdullah that his new lawyer is tied up in cases this week.
Abdullah rescheduled the trial until Monday. It had been rescheduled yesterday until today after Chee said he and Dodwell had only been able to communicate via e-mail and were unable to go through the specifics of the trial.
Chee, 44, is charged with attempting to leave the city-state last April without the official approval he needs as a bankrupt. He was stopped at Changi Airport trying to board a flight bound for Istanbul, Turkey, where he planned to attend the World Movement for Democracy meeting.
He was declared a bankrupt last year for failing to pay S$500,000 (US$331,000) in damages to Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew for defaming them during the 2001 general election.
Chee, who emerged from jail two weeks ago, faces a fine of S$5,000 (US$3,311), jail for up to one year, or both if convicted in the current case.
Chee Siok Chin, his sister, said he was "feeling well" after being treated in the prison ward of Changi General Hospital during his recent confinement.
He had opted to go to jail instead of paying a S$5,000 (US$3,265) fine after he was convicted in November for speaking in public without a permit last April in the run-up to the general election.
After bouts of vomiting in prison and stomach pains, the SDP said he was moved to the hospital. Altogether, he was confined for more than three weeks.
It was the fifth time in seven years that Chee went to jail instead of paying a fine.
Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have criticised the city-state for strictly limiting speech to muzzle its critics. - dpa
4 Jan 2007
Trial of Singapore opposition leader postponed to Monday
Sun2Surf
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3 comments:
> Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have criticised the city-state for strictly limiting speech to muzzle its critics. <
Shame. International NGO's criticise the state, whilst most of the people remain silent.
Apparently very frew people are prepared to stand up for a fellow human being's freedom — regardless on whether one agrees with him or not, or "approve" of his blatantly peaceful conduct.
Sorry, I don't agree — it isn't the city-state which is looking bad. From my POV, the people look far worse.
being a brain washed society, singaporeans are unable to even think or care about dr chee's plight. the populous are trained to learn and repeat without understanding the content of the information they have crammed parrot fashion into their shitty little brains.
before gaining a little piece of paper,gthe men enter charade of a toy town army that has never or will never go to war. later they find a job, marry, allocated their "cage", an HDB flat, and spend the rest of the time moaning, shopping, taking mc or sitting on their toilets. as they76 get older and poorer they finally spend their days in a coffee shop, third world style.
the island does not possess intelligencve enough to even care about politics, and happy to blindly follow the whims of their masters.
so taking or thinking about human rights and chee, never in a million years.
and oh yes, i forgot, people also believe they have become the hub of the world in everything from the size of the turds they can shit out to sporting events and now IR's
yes, yes... but the taxes are low, business relatively free from unnecessary regulation, and the women have a certain "attitude" about them many men find attractive.
Not all bad!
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