Singapore Blogger Fined for Criticizing Anti-Gay Sex Law Court Case

Alex Au Waipang was fined almost $6,000 USD for blog post he wrote two years ago criticizing Singapore’s anti-gay sex laws, reports Global Voices Online.

The Supreme Court of Singapore found Waipang guilty of contempt of court on March 5.

The article in question, published in October 2013, allegedly accused the Chief Justice of rigging court proceedings challenging Singapore’s gay sex ban.

Prosecutors allegedly said the article “unfairly suggested that the Chief Justice had acted impartially” and by doing so “risked undermining public confidence in the administration of justice in Singapore,” according to Global Voices Online.

Waipang reportedly plans to file an appeal.

Thailand Defamation Lawyer Comments:

Laws protecting freedom of speech and freedom of expression vary greatly from country to country. In Thailand, for example, the law allows for freedom of expression to be restricted by the government to preserve national security, maintain public order, and prevent insults to Buddhism. Thailand’s lèse-majesté laws also strictly prohibit any form of criticism of the monarchy—a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Similarly, defamation could be tried as a either a criminal and/or a civil offense under the Thailand Criminal Code.

Read the full story here.

China Blocks Viral Smog Documentary

“City in Pollution” by leniners is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

The Chinese government banned a documentary about the country’s smog that became viral a week after it originally debuted across official Chinese media, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.


Chai Jing, a former Chinese news anchor, created Under the Dome to raise public awareness in China about its “dependency on burning coal” and regulators’ “weak enforcement of anti-pollution rules,” according to USA Today.


The film quickly became viral after launching on March 1, gaining 200 million views in less than a week before being blocked by the Chinese government from all major websites.

Read the full story here and here.

Watch the full documentary:

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