British author Alan Shadrake says charges against him are "bloody nonsense"

A British author launched an appeal on Monday against a six-week jail term for scandalising Singapore's judiciary, saying the charges against him were "bloody nonsense".

Alan Shadrake, 76, was sentenced and fined Sg$20,000 ($16,000) in November last year after Singapore's High Court ruled that his book on the death penalty broke the city-state's laws.

Shadrake's lawyer M. Ravi told the Court of Appeal on Monday the book, entitled "Once a Jolly Hangman: Singapore Justice in the Dock", did not damage public confidence in the judiciary.

"If the book had been considered to be as dangerous and risky... It is astonishing that it is not banned," Ravi said.

"The Singapore citizen is not so gullible as to lose faith in the judicial system... regardless of any abusive criticism directed at it." More...

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