Singaporean blogger fights back libel suit

Singapore: A Singaporean blogger is fighting back after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong sued him for defamation for sharing an article on Facebook linking the leader to a corruption scandal.

Singapore has long been criticised for restricting free speech and other political rights, as well as slapping critics with financially ruinous libel suits.

Observers say the government is increasingly targeting online criticism -- the case against blogger Leong Sze Hian comes the same month the editor of a news portal was charged with defamation.

The prime minister lodged the defamation suit against Leong earlier in December for posting on his Facebook page a link to an article alleging that Lee was the target

of an investigation in neighbouring Malaysia over the scandal at sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.

Lee said the article, originally published in a Malaysian news portal, was false and without basis and that Leong had reposted the link to smear his reputation.