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Exclusive reporting by Mathew Carr
Oct. 23-24, 2023 — Ravi M Ravi, a human rights lawyer grappling with Singapore authorities, said he fears he will suffer time in jail after being found in contempt of court.
M Ravi, who has suffered mental health problems after fighting multiple court cases simultaneously, says there is a risk he will get sentenced to suffer behind bars, he said.
The case is important because it’s testing how countries treat vulnerable lawyers seeking to stand up for clients who are themselves vulnerable, sometimes in the extreme.
For a summary of some of the context, see this report from last year and this snip of it.
A sentencing hearing is set for Nov. 8, Ravi said today.
He said by phone he was suffering mental health challenges at the time of the alleged offenses and that he had multiple demands on his time.
“I’m saying that I should be just fined,” whereas the Attorney-General was pushing for five weeks in jail, he said. He was handling multiple death-sentence cases, including supporting stressed families of those sentenced to death, he said.
He’s already been repeatedly punished, he said.
(Updated Tuesday to remove specific estimate of upcoming jail time because a scenario where only a fine is levied is still possible.)
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