The lawsuit filed against the Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER) by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his father, Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew, will go ahead after Singapore's Court of Appeal on Friday rejected the magazine's arguments that the case should not proceed.

"FEER and the editor have seven days to file their defences," their lawyer, Peter Low, told AFP.

FEER had argued that the Singapore court has no power to hear the case. It said that the claims were not restricted to Singapore, and the court documents were served improperly.

The court threw out both arguments, after last month rejecting the magazine's request to use a British Queen's Counsel.

The Lees sued the magazine's editor Hugo Restall and Hong Kong-based Review Publishing, its owners, alleging defamation in an article last year based on an interview with pro-democracy activist Chee Soon Juan.

The article entitled Singapore's 'Martyr,' Chee Soon Juan, described the Singapore Democratic Party secretary-general's battle against the ruling People's Action Party and its leaders.

In the article, Restall also touched on Singapore officials' success in libel suits against critics.

Singaporean leaders have won hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages in defamation cases against critics and foreign publications, which they say are necessary to protect their reputations from unfounded attacks.

The city-state banned distribution of the magazine in September, saying it had failed to comply with media regulations.

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