Singapore court fines Lee Hsien Yang’s son US$10,000 over contempt of court charge
- Li Shengwu said in a private Facebook post in 2017 that the Singapore government is ‘very litigious and has a pliant court system’
- Li, the nephew of Singapore’s PM Lee Hsien Loong, will have to serve a week’s jail in default if he doesn’t pay the fine in two weeks
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Li Shengwu, an academic at Harvard University, was also fined S$15,000 (US$10,880) by the High Court over the 2017 post in which he described the Singapore government as “very litigious and has a pliant court system”.
He will have to serve a week’s jail if he does not pay the amount in two weeks, Justice Kannan Ramesh said in the judgement, although Li is currently living in the United States.
The spat pitted his father and aunt against his prime minister uncle.
The Attorney General’s Chambers had described his post as “an egregious and baseless attack on the Singapore Judiciary” and lodged contempt proceedings against him.
Li initially took part in the proceedings through his lawyers, but withdrew later.
“Apparently the court has rendered judgment on my case today, and fined me $15,000 for a comment made to my friends on Facebook,” Li said in a Facebook post on Wednesday after learning about the decision.
“I disagree with the judgment, and worry that it will reinforce the PAP’s tendency to suppress ordinary political speech,” he said.
Li’s father Lee Hsien Yang joined an opposition party before the polls and campaigned for its candidates although he did not run.
