Online news site Asia Sentinel reported that in a 204-page decision, Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong, Appellate Justice Andrew Pheng Boon Keong and Judge Judith Prakash agreed with the Singapore High Court's ruling in September 2008 that the Lees had been defamed in a 2006 interview with Chee Soon Juan, secretary-general of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party. Damages will be assessed later, according to the "Wall Street Journal".

Singapore's High Court handled the case against FEER by summary judgement, as requested by the Lees. In this Singaporean judicial mechanism, the court makes a ruling without the case going to trial. Asia Sentinel noted that "Being charged in the Singapore courts is tantamount to being convicted".

Singaporean leaders have won hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages in defamation cases against critics and foreign publications.

Major publications in Asia which had been sued by high-ranking government officials include the "International Herald Tribune", the "Financial Times", "Time" magazine, the "Economist", and the now-defunct "AsiaWeek".

The 63-year-old FEER will close down in December this year, according to an announcement last month made by its parent company Dow Jones and Co., citing readership and advertising revenue losses.

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The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (http://www.seapa.org) is a coalition of press freedom advocacy groups from Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. Established in November 1998, it is the only regional network with the specific mandate of promoting and protecting press freedom throughout Southeast Asia. SEAPA is composed of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (Indonesia), the Jakarta-based Institute for the Study of the Free Flow of Information (ISAI), the Manila-based Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, and the Thai Journalists Association. SEAPA also has partners in Malaysia, Cambodia, East Timor, and exiled Burmese media, and undertakes projects and programs for press freedom throughout the region.