Annual Prison Census 2008: Singapore
| Publisher | Committee to Protect Journalists |
| Publication Date | 4 December 2008 |
| Cite as | Committee to Protect Journalists, Annual Prison Census 2008: Singapore, 4 December 2008, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/494a402cc.html [accessed 5 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Journalists in prison as of December 1, 2008
SINGAPORE: 1
Gopalan Nair, Singapore Dissident
IMPRISONED: September 20, 2008
Police detained Nair for six days in May 2008 after he wrote on his blog, Singapore Dissident, that a High Court judge had been "prostituting herself" in her handling of a defamation case filed by the ruling Lee family against an opposition newspaper. Nair was charged with insulting a public servant.
Nair was born in Singapore but obtained U.S. citizenship in 2005 and resided in California. He had traveled to Singapore to observe a three-day hearing to assess damages in the Lee defamation suit.
Nair, a lawyer and political activist, remained in Singapore for his own trial. On September 18, a court sentenced him to three months in jail, news reports said.
