Singapore Jails Human Rights Lawyer M Ravi For Contempt

---

 
Lawyer M Ravi said he will not appeal his 21-day jail sentence. (Facebook pic)PETALING JAYA: The Singapore High Court has sentenced human rights lawyer M Ravi to 21 days’ jail for contempt before two different judges in separate courtroom incidents in November 2021.
One of the cases involved an exchange with a judge during a hearing involving Magendran Muniandy, a Malaysian, who was accused of forging various documents.
Ravi is known to have assisted in cases involving drug mules on death row in Singapore, including Malaysians such as Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam, who was found guilty for smuggling 42.7gm of heroin into the city-state.
Nagaenthran was executed in April last year after the Singapore Court of Appeal dismissed a legal challenge filed by his mother in a last-ditch attempt to set aside his conviction and death sentence.
“The High Court has just sentenced me to 21 days in prison with effect from today for contempt of court. I feel the sentence is very harsh given the previous cases that I have cited,” Ravi said in a Facebook post yesterday.
He said he will also have to pay the Attorney-General’s Chambers costs of S$10,000.
“I’ve decided not to appeal as I have to pay S$20,000 as security of costs to the AGC if I do. I will proceed to serve the sentence immediately knowing that history will be on my side,” he added.
According to The Straits Times, Ravi had repeatedly accused Justice Audrey Lim of being “biased”, interrupted her, and told her not to be rude.
This took place while he was acting for former SBS Transit bus driver Chua Qwong Meng in a High Court suit against the public transport operator.
Ravi had also accused district judge Chay Yuen Fatt of being biased after an exchange over why he had been scheduled for two trials in the same morning.
This happened during a criminal case in the State Courts involving Magendran.
On March 31, Justice Hoo Sheau Peng found Ravi liable for nine instances of contempt.
Ravi’s main defence was that he was suffering a relapse of his bipolar disorder at the time, having forgotten “to take medications on some days”. - FMT

---