Police detained Nair for six days in May 2008 after he wrote on his blog, Singapore Dissident, that a High Court judge had been “prostituting herself” in her handling of a defamation case filed by the ruling Lee family against an opposition newspaper. Nair was charged with insulting a public servant.
Nair was born in Singapore but obtained U.S. citizenship in 2005 and resided in California. He had traveled to Singapore to observe a three-day hearing to assess damages in the Lee defamation suit.
Nair, a lawyer and political activist, remained in Singapore for his own trial. On September 18, a court sentenced him to three months in jail, news reports said.