A Singaporean blogger sued by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for libel has been fired from his job as a healthcare worker for “improper public conduct”, his employer said Tuesday.
It is the first time a Singaporean leader has taken legal action against an online critic and indicates that in the city state, blogger and online news sites are not immune to court action.
Local media in Singapore is tightly controlled, leaving amateur bloggers as the strongest critics of the long-ruling People’s Action Party.
Media firms like Bloomberg, The Economist and the Financial Times have previously paid damages and apologised to Singapore leaders including Lee and his father, former prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, for publishing articles found to be defamatory.
International human rights groups have accused Singapore leaders of using financially ruinous libel actions to silence critics and political opponents.
The Lees and other ruling party leaders say the lawsuits are necessary to protect their reputations from unfounded attacks. Full story
