Meanwhile, supporters of Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) secretary general Chee Soon Juan have alleged he is being abused during his five-week jail term. Citing SDP members, the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission, a regional non-governmental organisation, said in an appeal that Chee was suffering nausea and losing weight at the Queenstown Remand Prison.

The Singapore government did not respond to questions seeking comment on Sunday or yesterday. But in recent years, it has vigorously resisted similar charges from Chee and other opponents of the ruling People's Action Party.

The claims from Chee are the latest salvo in his campaign against a clutch of Singapore laws that codify when, where and how citizens may speak in public.

In particular, he has spearheaded opposition to the requirement in the Public Entertainments and Meetings Act (PEMA) that the police must authorise all public gatherings.

"I willingly sit in prison in my humble attempt to claim back the rights of Singaporeans to free speech and assembly," he said in an October 26 letter to President S. R. Nathan which was signed off with his prisoner's number.

In the letter, Chee urged Mr Nathan to invoke the powers of his office to form a panel of high court judges who would review the PEMA.

Chee was found guilty last month of attempting to hold a rally on 1 May without a permit. Police had refused permission for the gathering, but the SDP head tried to proceed regardless.

He was fined S$4000 (HK$17,700) for not having a PEMA permit and a further S$500 for wilful trespass. He was jailed after he refused to pay the fines.

A second SDP leader who was also arrested at the May Day rally served a single day in jail, but was released after he paid his fines, totalling S$4000.

Chee claimed in his note to Mr Nathan that the PEMA violated his constitutional rights, citing Article 14, which states that every citizen "has the right to freedom of speech and expression", to assemble "peaceably and without arms", and "to form associations". However, the article also allows those rights to be curtailed by law in the interests of national security, and law and order.

In 1999, Chee tried to use the same tactic when facing jail for earlier violations of the PEMA. The then president, Ong Teng Cheong, rejected a call by the SDP head to review the act, saying it would be "an improper interference" in the judicial process.

The letter from Chee continued: "The PEMA, as exercised and enacted by the PAP government, effectively denies the universal right of Singaporeans to peaceful assembly, rights also enshrined in the United Nations Declaration Of Human Rights, of which Singapore is a signatory."

Mr Nathan is a long-time pillar of the Singapore establishment. He previously headed the country's intelligence arm, the Security and Intelligence Department, was executive chairman of the state-linked newspaper group, and served as ambassador to the United States and Malaysia.

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