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http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_382751.html?vgnmr=1
Couple guilty of sedition
By Elena Chong, Court Correspondent
SingTel technical officer Ong Kian Cheong, 50, and his wife, UBS associate director Dorothy Chan Hien Leng, 46, were convicted on Thursday of four charges after an 11-day trial. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
A CHRISTIAN couple have been found guilty in Singapore's first sedition trial for distributing seditious and undesirable publications as well as possession.
SingTel technical officer Ong Kian Cheong, 50, and his wife, UBS associate director Dorothy Chan Hien Leng, 46, were convicted on Thursday of four charges after an 11-day trial.
They were convicted of distributing seditious or an undesirable publication, The Little Bride, to two Muslims in October and March 2007; and sending out another seditious booklet, Who is Allah?, to another Muslim in December that year.
These two publications had the tendency to to promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between Christians and Muslims.
The Little Bride was deemed objectionable as it dealt with matters of religion in such a manner likely to cause feelings of enmity, hatred, ill-will or hostility between the two religious groups.
On the day of the Protestant couple's arrest on Jan 30 last year, police seized an assortment of items from their Maplewoods condominium, including 11 titles consisting of 439 copies of comic tracts which were seditious.
Their defence that they had no knowledge of the contents of the tracts they sent out was rejected by the court.
Judge Roy Neighbour also disbelieved Chan's defence that her husband had no knoweledge about her tract orders and purchases.
'I do not believe that the first accused (Ong) was merely the 'postman' in the distribution of the tracts having no knowledge of what was being distributed to members of the public,'' he added.
The case was adjourned to June 4 for Deputy Public Prosecutor Anandan Bala to address the court on sentence. Mitigation will be presented by their lawyer Selva K. Naidu then.
The couple can be fined up to $5,000 and/or jailed for up to three years on each of the two Sedition Act charges.
For distributing an objectionable publication, they can be fined up to $5,000 and/or jailed for up to 12 months.
The possesssion charge is punishable with a fine of up to $2,000 and/or up to 18 months in jail.
Couple guilty of sedition
By Elena Chong, Court Correspondent
SingTel technical officer Ong Kian Cheong, 50, and his wife, UBS associate director Dorothy Chan Hien Leng, 46, were convicted on Thursday of four charges after an 11-day trial. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
A CHRISTIAN couple have been found guilty in Singapore's first sedition trial for distributing seditious and undesirable publications as well as possession.
SingTel technical officer Ong Kian Cheong, 50, and his wife, UBS associate director Dorothy Chan Hien Leng, 46, were convicted on Thursday of four charges after an 11-day trial.
They were convicted of distributing seditious or an undesirable publication, The Little Bride, to two Muslims in October and March 2007; and sending out another seditious booklet, Who is Allah?, to another Muslim in December that year.
These two publications had the tendency to to promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between Christians and Muslims.
The Little Bride was deemed objectionable as it dealt with matters of religion in such a manner likely to cause feelings of enmity, hatred, ill-will or hostility between the two religious groups.
On the day of the Protestant couple's arrest on Jan 30 last year, police seized an assortment of items from their Maplewoods condominium, including 11 titles consisting of 439 copies of comic tracts which were seditious.
Their defence that they had no knowledge of the contents of the tracts they sent out was rejected by the court.
Judge Roy Neighbour also disbelieved Chan's defence that her husband had no knoweledge about her tract orders and purchases.
'I do not believe that the first accused (Ong) was merely the 'postman' in the distribution of the tracts having no knowledge of what was being distributed to members of the public,'' he added.
The case was adjourned to June 4 for Deputy Public Prosecutor Anandan Bala to address the court on sentence. Mitigation will be presented by their lawyer Selva K. Naidu then.
The couple can be fined up to $5,000 and/or jailed for up to three years on each of the two Sedition Act charges.
For distributing an objectionable publication, they can be fined up to $5,000 and/or jailed for up to 12 months.
The possesssion charge is punishable with a fine of up to $2,000 and/or up to 18 months in jail.
and the mild destruction of the merlion!...with the view of the 'three tomstones' in the farther shore..
