By Goh Chin Lian, Political Correspondent

THREE men who wore T-shirts depicting a kangaroo dressed in a judge's robes were found to be in contempt of court on Wednesday afternoon.

Justice Judith Prakash adjourned the hearing, which began in the morning, to give time to the trio to decide if they want to tender an apology.

Should they decide not to apologise, the court will decide on an appropriate punishment.

All three refused to apologise or to withdraw what they insinuated about the Singapore Courts.

The three men wore T-shirts bearing a picture of a kangaroo in judge's robes while attending a hearing for the assessment of damages for a defamation action brought by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong against the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) on May 26 to 28. 

By this they meant to imply that the Court was a kangaroo court.

Furthermore, Tan Liang Joo John said, "This is a kangaroo court", to Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew when he walked past him outside the Supreme Court.

On Jul 27 2008, an article entitled "Police question activists over kangaroo T-shirts" appeared on the SDP website.

This article reproduced a photograph of the three Respondents wearing the T-shirts mentioned above. The article and the photograph of the Respondents were meant to give wider publicity to their allegation that the Court was a kangaroo court.

Justice Prakash will deliver her verdict on sentence on Nov 27 at 9.30am.