Singapore court rejects FEER bid for UK lawyer

SINGAPORE, June 5 (Reuters) Singapore's High Court has dismissed an application by the Far Eastern Economic Review for a top British lawyer to defend the magazine in a libel suit against two of Singapore's top leaders, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and former premier Lee Kuan Yew sued the magazine and its editor Hugo Restall over an article published last July which criticised the government's handling of a pay-and-perks scandal at the country's largest charity.

In April, the magazine requested that British barrister Gavin James Millar represent it. The magazine argued that Senior Counsels -- Singapore's equivalent to the Queen's Counsel, a senior barrister appointed as counsel to the British crown -- were not willing to accept the case, the Straits Times reported.

The High Court brushed aside those arguments and said at least three local Senior Counsels were open to representing the magazine, the newspaper said. Justice Tan Lee Meng said the case was not that difficult or complex and could be handled by a local lawyer.

The magazine has one month to decide whether to pursue its request for Queen's Counsel in the Court of Appeal.

Singapore has for decades taken a tough stance on foreign media when they report on local politics. International media organisations have been banned, slapped with defamation suits or seen their circulations restricted when they published articles deemed offensive by the government.

REUTERS JK KP0751