Singapore - The Singapore government is taking an editor of The Wall Street Journal to court over three articles that it said showed contempt for the city-state's judiciary, a news report said Saturday.

A judge in the High Court granted an application by the attorney general to start proceedings against Melanie Kirkpatrick, a deputy editor with the New York-based business newspaper's editorial page, the Straits Times newspaper reported.

The three articles were published in June and July in the editorials and opinion section of The Wall Street Journal Asia.

Kirkpatrick, who supervised the section, was responsible for "actions which resulted in the publication and distribution" of articles that "contained passages that scandalize the Singapore judiciary," court documents obtained by the Straits Times said.

Daniel Hertzberg, international editor of The Wall Street Journal Asia, and its managing editor, Christine Glancey, are also facing contempt proceedings related to the articles.

The first article was an editorial on Singapore's democracy, the second a letter from pro-democracy activist Chee Soon Juan and the third an editorial on a report by a human rights institute on the Singapore judiciary.

In November, the Singapore High Court found The Wall Street Journal's publisher, Dow Jones Publishing, in contempt of court for the three articles and fined it 25,000 Singapore dollars (16,000 US dollars), the highest fine so far for such an offence in Singapore.

Singapore leaders and officials, arguing that they have to protect their reputations against unfounded criticism, have won large sums in damages after taking critics and foreign media to court. (dpa)