[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Singapore [official website] fined blogger Alex Au of the website Yawning Bread [website] 8,000 Singapore dollars (USD $5,845) on Thursday for contempt of court. Au faces charges over comments he made in 2013 concerning the timing of two cases involving sexual acts between same-sex individuals. Au commented that the top court engaged in strange calendering [Strait Times report] in the scheduling of two constitutional challenges to the anti-homosexuality provisions of the Singapore Penal Code, found in &#167 377A [national backgrounder]. Au alleged Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon wanted to hear the cases earlier but could not because he was serving as Singapore’s attorney general. The comments have since been removed [blog post] on the advice of Au’s counsel that he take them down for the duration of the case.

The legal rights afforded to homosexual couples in the US and other nations have increased substantially in recent years. However, many countries retain laws that criminalize homosexual acts or are considering legislation to criminalize homosexuality. Last year a Singapore court affirmed a law criminalizing homosexuality [JURIST report]. Last September advocacy group Amnesty International [advocacy website] urged [JURIST report] the Republic of Chad to deny an amendment to the penal code that would criminalize homosexual conduct with a jail sentence of 15 to 20 years and a fine ranging from USD $100 to $1,000. Also last September Gambia’s National Assembly passed a bill [JURIST report] that mandates imprisonment for some homosexual acts and amends the criminal code to bring life sentences for “aggravated homosexuality.” The bill is similar to Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act [text, PDF], enacted in February 2014, then struck down in August and appealed [JURIST reports] one week later by the Ugandan Attorney General. In January Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan signed [JURIST report] the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act into law, prompting condemnation throughout the international community. The law bans same-sex marriage and criminalizes homosexual associations, societies and meetings and carries a punishment of up to 14 years imprisonment.