Singapore's High Court on Tuesday ordered a prominent government critic, Chee Soon Juan, his sister and his political party to pay $416,000 in defamation damages to the prime minister and his father. Mr. Chee, his sister, Chee Siok Chin, and the Singapore Democratic Party had been convicted for implying that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his father, the former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, had been involved in corruption. On its Web site, Mr. Chee’s party said the ruling might bankrupt it. Mr. Chee was forced into bankruptcy in 2006 by a separate $300,000 fine for defaming the elder Mr. Lee and another former prime minister, Goh Chok Tong. Singapore’s leaders often use defamation lawsuits against critics; opposition leaders say they are a political weapon used to silence them.
The same fate had been suffered by many other political leaders who were gaining popularity.
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