"His book was initially published in Malaysia. But it was imported into Singapore, where ''it appeared in all the major bookstores and sold quite well, apparently''. He returned to Singapore for the launch last July because all indications were that nothing would happen: ''But they were waiting to seize me …''
He says he will not pay a fine so if the worst happens he will serve the eight weeks - ''five if I'm a good boy. They reckon I'll be in a solitary cell … And I'll be allowed to read books - as long as they are not political.''
REPORTER STEVE MEACHAM; BRISBANE TIMES;
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BACKGROUND: The 75-year-old free-lance British journalist was arrested by Singapore authorities in July, 2010, on criminal charges in connection with his new book, "Once a Jolly Hangman: Singapore Justice in the Dock."
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"At 76, Alan Shadrake knows the books he will be taking into solitary confinement if he is sent to Changi prison by Singapore's Appeals Court today - Rudyard Kipling's Kim, George Orwell's 1984, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and a couple of his favourite H.G. Wells novels," the Brisbane Times story by reporter Steve Meacham published earlier today under the heading "Writer plans to do time with Orwell and Huxley in Changi," begins.
"Hardly the reading material of a dangerous subversive," the story continues.
"Yet the veteran British journalist wasn't expecting to be arrested last year, let alone convicted, for ''scandalising Singapore's judiciary''. His crime? Writing a book, Once a Jolly Hangman, which began as a profile of Singapore's veteran hangman Darshan Singh - a character who once tried to get into the Guinness World Records book for having executed about 1000 people between 1959 and his retirement in 2006.
But during the course of his research, Shadrake decided many of those people on Singh's gallows had been the victims of the city-state's flawed legal system.
At Shadrake's trial in October, the judge ruled the book could cause readers to lose faith in Singapore's justice system since it implied judges were ''influenced by political and economic situations and are biased against the weak and the poor''. Shadrake was sentenced to eight weeks' imprisonment or six weeks' plus a fine - a judgment which attracted criticism around the world.
This week Shadrake spoke exclusively about his book to the Herald. A heavily legalled version will be published in Australia next month, including the original foreword by Margaret John, of Amnesty International, and an updated foreword by the prominent Australian civil rights campaigner Julian Burnside, QC.
Shadrake moved to Singapore in 2003 after a reporting career mainly spent in Fleet Street, Cold War Berlin and California. An early case covered was that of the Vietnamese-born Australian Nguyen Tuong Van, arrested at Changi Airport in possession of less than 400 grams of heroin.
When Nguyen was sentenced to death in 2004, Shadrake interviewed Singh, who boasted that in 1964 he had hanged 18 people in a single day. ''That interview sparked the idea of doing a book on Singh,'' Shadrake said. ''But as I investigated the cases involving the death penalty in Singapore, I realised it had to be a very critical book. So I abandoned that plan and told Singh, but he continued to help me.''(Nguyen was executed - by Singh - in 2005.)
Shadrake continued writing his book for the next four years but its thrust now was that rich citizens of wealthy countries were far more likely to escape a death sentence in Singapore than poor citizens of Third World countries, backed up by many case studies. He quoted data from Amnesty International and the University of California which showed that since 1981, Singapore has executed nearly 470 people. In the mid-1990s, more than 70 a year were being hanged, and from 1994 to 1999 the execution rate of 13.57 per million of the population was the world's highest.
But since 2005 the numbers executed have dropped to single digits. Shadrake's book argues that this is largely the result of pressure from Western and Asian countries.
He says two-thirds of the hangings have been of drug traffickers, usually small-time couriers and low-level dealers while the ''Mr Bigs'' of Singapore's drug trade are rarely caught, or executed. It was this accusation which landed Shadrake in court.
His book was initially published in Malaysia. But it was imported into Singapore, where ''it appeared in all the major bookstores and sold quite well, apparently''. He returned to Singapore for the launch last July because all indications were that nothing would happen: ''But they were waiting to seize me …''"
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The story can be found at:
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/entertainment/books/writer-plans-to-do-time-with-orwell-and-huxley-in-changi-20110410-1d99z.html
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be accessed at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-feature-cases-issues-and.html
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
