Regional anti-death penalty network issued Pofma order over false claims

The Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (Adpan), a Hong Kong-founded network of organisations and individuals advocating for the death penalty to be abolished in the Asia-Pacific, has been issued a correction order under Singapore’s fake news law.

It was over falsehoods contained in its Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn posts on Oct 3 about Singapore’s legal processes for death row prisoners and the treatment of activists who speak up against the death penalty.

The posts were put up a day before drug trafficking convict Mohammad Azwan Bohari was scheduled for execution. Azwan was convicted and sentenced to death on Feb 11, 2019, for possessing not less than 26.5 grammes of pure heroin. 

The social media posts by Adpan claimed, among other things, that the burden of proof placed on Azwan was unjust, that sentencing in Singapore is arbitrary, and that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had ignored ongoing legal battles by going ahead with executions.

The posts also stated that the authorities have targeted one of Adpan’s member organisations, Singapore-based activist group Transformative Justice Collective, for speaking out against the death penalty, along with others who participated in vigils.

In its statement on Oct 9, MHA said the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) direction was to address two false statements of fact. 

These are that the state carries out executions without regard for due legal process, and that the Government targets, silences and harasses the Transformative Justice Collective and other individuals for speaking against the death penalty. 

“The Government takes a serious view of the deliberate communication of falsehoods,” MHA said.

In addressing the first claim, MHA said Azwan was accorded due legal process “at all stages”. It went on to list appeals and legal applications relating to his case, starting with the appeal following his conviction that the Court of Appeal had dismissed on Oct 24, 2019. 

After his two bids for clemency failed, Azwan was given notice on April 12, 2024, that his execution would be scheduled on April 19.

MHA said that at that point, Azwan was involved in only one pending court application. He and other death row prisoners had sought a declaration that the policy of not assigning counsel under the Legal Assistance Scheme for Capital Offences (Lasco) for post-appeal applications was unconstitutional. 

Lasco is a scheme run by the Supreme Court that offers free legal counsel for those charged with capital offences, regardless of nationality.

However, MHA said the Lasco application did not seek a stay of execution, and it was only on April 16 – three days before the execution date – that Azwan filed a criminal motion to the Court of Appeal seeking a stay of execution. The appellate court then ordered a stay of execution on April 17, pending the Lasco application’s outcome. 

The High Court later struck out the Lasco application on May 20, with the Court of Appeal later stepping in to dismiss the subsequent appeal of this application on Sept 9. 

Ten days later, on Sept 19, Azwan and 30 other death row prisoners filed an application challenging the constitutionality of certain provisions introduced under the post-appeal applications in Capital Cases Act 2022. 

But MHA pointed out that this was a civil application which had no bearing on Azwan’s conviction or sentence. The application also did not seek a stay of execution, it added. Azwan was thus given notice on Sept 30 that his execution was scheduled on Oct 4.

Again, three days before his scheduled execution on Oct 1, Azwan filed another application for a stay of execution, citing the pending civil application and his intention to file a “review application” against his conviction, MHA said. 

Pointing out that the appellate court dismissed this application on Oct 3, MHA said the court had stated, in its judgment, that Azwan’s “intended review application (had) no prospect of success whatsoever”, and that nothing was raised to call into question the correctness of the applicant’s conviction and sentence.

On the claim that it silences dissent around the anti-death penalty cause, MHA said action is taken against organisations and individuals who spread false information about the death penalty, where it is in the public interest to do so. This is what has been done in the case of the Transformative Justice Collective.

The group was issued with several Pofma correction directions as its false statements “cast serious aspersions on the Government and the criminal justice system, and could undermine public confidence in public institutions”, MHA said.

MHA also stated that the orders did not contain a requirement for the text of the group’s original posts to be removed or altered. “Readers can still read the falsehoods, and consider the Government’s clarifications alongside it,” it said.

With the Pofma order, Adpan will now be required to carry a correction notice on its Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn posts.  

Source: Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

ADV: Navigating and Transitioning Career Paths Beyond the Traditional Law Firm (23 Oct) PSD advises board members of statutory boards on gifts, says they can be deemed public servants