Human rights defender and lawyer M. Ravi sentenced to 21 days in prison for contempt of court
On 8 November 2023, human rights defender and lawyer M. Ravi was sentenced to 21 days imprisonment for contempt of court. On 21 March 2023, the Court of Three Judges issued a five year suspension order against prominent human rights lawyer and human rights defender Ravi Madasamy (M. Ravi) for making "grave and baseless accusations of improper conduct" against the Attorney-General of Singapore. The five-year suspension is the maximum allowable sanction for a lawyer’s misconduct.
M. Ravi (Ravi Madasamy) has been an international human rights lawyer in Singapore for the last 20 years. He has argued in favour of landmark human rights and consitutional law cases concerning issues of the constitutionality of the mandatory death penalty, freedom of expression, defamation laws, freedom of assembly, contempt of court and access to legal representation. M. Ravi is also the founding member of the Anti‐Death Penalty Asia Network and the Singapore Anti‐Death Penalty Campaign (S.A.D.P.C.) community group.
On 8 November 2023, human rights defender and lawyer M. Ravi was sentenced to 21 days imprisonment for contempt of court.
M. Ravi (Ravi Madasamy) has been an international human rights lawyer in Singapore for the last 20 years. He has argued in favour of landmark human rights and consitutional law cases concerning issues of the constitutionality of the mandatory death penalty, freedom of expression, defamation laws, freedom of assembly, contempt of court and access to legal representation. M. Ravi is also the founding member of the Anti‐Death Penalty Asia Network and the Singapore Anti‐Death Penalty Campaign (S.A.D.P.C.) community group.
The High Court of Singapore found M. Ravi liable for contempt of court charges under the Administration of Justice (Protection) Act 2016 (No 19 of 2016). The judgement follows proceedings on 23 October 2023, wherein the High Court heard the complaint lodged against M. Ravi. The Court found the human rights defender liable for nine instances of contempt, ruling that he had committed four of these in the State Courts before District Judge Chay Yuen Fatt and five in the High Court before Justice Audrey Lim. The instances in question all occurred in November 2021.
Previously, on 21 March 2023, the Court of Three Judges issued a five year suspension order against the human rights defender M. Ravi for making "grave and baseless accusations of improper conduct" against the Attorney-General of Singapore. The five-year suspension is the maximum allowable sanction for misconduct by a lawyer.
Front Line Defenders condemns the sentencing of M. Ravi for contempt of court, which it believes to have been falsely delivered as punishment for the human rights defender’s work. Furthermore, Front Line Defenders expresses its concern at the suspension order issued against the human rights defender, which has impeded M. Ravi from carrying out his work as a human rights lawyer, undermining his rights under Article 9(3)(c) of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.
On 21 March 2023, the Court of Three Judges issued a five year suspension order against prominent human rights lawyer and human rights defender Ravi Madasamy (M. Ravi) for making "grave and baseless accusations of improper conduct" against the Attorney-General of Singapore. The five-year suspension is the maximum allowable sanction for a lawyer’s misconduct.
M. Ravi has been an international human rights lawyer in Singapore for the last 20 years. He has argued in favour of landmark human rights and consitutional law cases concerning issues of the constitutionality of the mandatory death penalty, freedom of expression, defamation laws, freedom of assembly, contempt of court and access to legal representation. M. Ravi is also the founding member of the Anti‐Death Penalty Asia Network and the Singapore Anti‐Death Penalty Campaign (S.A.D.P.C.) community group.
The case and misconduct charges stem from an October 2020 online interview M. Ravi gave regarding the case of Malaysian national Gobi Avedian, who was sentenced to death in 2018 after being convicted of importing 40.22 grams of heroin into Singapore. In the interview, the human rights defenders expressed that the public prosecutor "has been overzealous in his prosecution and that has led to the death sentence of Gobi". On 19 October 2020, M. Ravi received a letter from the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) demanding an apology and to unconditionally retract allegations as they were "baseless assertions".
The hearing of M. Ravi regarding the contempt of court allegations will take place on 31 March 2023. M. Ravi is a vulnerable human rights defender having bipolar disorder. Such actions taken against his expressed dissent towards the authorities and his work for human rights has a significant impact on his mental health. Singapore has ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that specifically protects not only the physical, but mental integrity of vulnerable persons and their fundamental freedoms. The UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers has also expressed her concern on the suspension order against the human rights defender.
Front Line Defenders believes that the charges filed against M. Ravi are directly related to his work in defence of the human rights of people in Singapore. Front Line Defenders is seriously concerned for the psychological wellbeing of the human rights defender.
