THE Far Eastern Economic Review (Feer) magazine will appeal against a High Court ruling that it had defamed two top Singapore leaders, and will seek to have the court apply the public interest privilege.

The High Court had ruled last month that the publisher and editor of the Hong Kong-based weekly had defamed Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew in a 2006 article.

On Wednesday, a spokesman for Dow Jones, which owns the magazine, told The Straits Times in an e-mail: 'We have filed notice that we are appealing the decision against the Far Eastern Economic Review.

'We will seek to have the court apply the public interest privilege, which is available in most other Commonwealth countries, and reverse the decision from the court below.'

Lawyers told The Straits Times that in countries like England, the press has the right to publish untrue statements if it is in public interest. But they must first have done due diligence to verify the statement and stated the other side's position.

The Lees had in August 2006 sued Feer's publisher, Review Publishing, and its editor Hugo Restall, for defaming them in an article headlined Singapore's 'Martyr' Chee Soon Juan.

Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.