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Court of Appeal allows joint-challenge of Section 377A

SINGAPORE — The Court of Appeal today (Oct 10) allowed two challenges against a law which criminalises sex between men to be heard together.

A view of the Supreme Court along Hight Street in Singapore.

A view of the Supreme Court along Hight Street in Singapore.

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SINGAPORE — The Court of Appeal today (Oct 10) allowed two challenges against a law which criminalises sex between men to be heard together. Mr M Ravi, lawyer for Mr Tan Eng Hong, argued this morning before the apex court that both cases should be heard together so as to prevent the same questions of law and constitutional issues from being tried on separate occasions with potentially different results. The Court of Appeal was scheduled to hear an appeal by a gay couple — graphic designers Mr Gary Lim Meng Suang, 44 and his partner, Mr Kenneth Chee Mun-Leon, 37 — on the constitutionality of Section 377A of the Penal Code on Monday, six months after their legal challenge was dismissed by the High Court. Mr Tan, 49, who was the first to fight the law here in 2010 after he was caught having oral sex with another man in a public toilet, had his challenge against the law dismissed earlier this month by Justice Quentin Loh. The Court of Appeal, which comprised Judges of Appeal Andrew Phang and VK Rajah, as well as Justice Woo Bih Li, ruled this morning that the issues in the two cases are essentially the same and should be heard together. With the Court of Appeal’s decision this morning, the appeal by Mr Lim and Mr Chee will be vacated to a date to be fixed so that both cases could be heard together.

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