The government banned director Martyn See's 49-minute documentary Zahari's 17 Years two weeks ago, saying its "distorted and misleading" version of events could undermine confidence in the government.

The film is an interview with Said Zahari, arrested in 1963 on suspicion of plotting violent acts and detained without trial for 17 years. He is now 78, and lives in neighboring Malaysia.

"The ban on See's film must be lifted. This act of censorship is all the more inappropriate and ridiculous as his (See's) films are available on Web sites such as YouTube and Google Video," Paris-based Reporters Without Borders or RSF said in a statement issued late Monday.

Singapore's tight restrictions on media and political speech have drawn much criticism from domestic and international rights advocates. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has acknowledged tensions over the regulations, but says they are needed to maintain order.

Singapore's Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts referred a request for comment on RSF's remarks to an April 10 ministry statement, issued when the ban was announced.

"The Government will not allow people who had posed a security threat to the country in the past, to exploit the use of films to purvey a false and distorted portrayal of their past actions and detention by the Government," the ministry said then. "This could undermine public confidence in the Government."

The ban - imposed under Singapore's Films Act - prohibits exhibition, possession and distribution of the film, with a maximum punishment of two years' jail and a S$10,000 (US$6600; €4865) fine.

RSF said Singapore has used an "archaic film law to impose another authoritarian measure violating press freedom."

Among other things, the Films Act also bans movies deemed as party political films that "contain wholly or partly either partisan or biased references to or comments on any political matter."

Police investigated the director See last year over a documentary he made about an opposition leader, which was also banned.

That film, Singapore Rebel, was screened at festivals in New Zealand and the United States, but not in Singapore.

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