After being held under investigation for three public assemblies held outside Changi Prison Complex and in nearby Mariam Walk, activist Kirsten Han took to social media on the matter.

In a Twitter post on Tuesday (Jun 28), Ms Han shared a screengrab of a Straits Times article where Prime Minister Lee explains Singapore’s approach to criticism.

She shared the following excerpt: “PM Lee also said that when criticisms are incorrect or unfair, the Government will respectfully disagree and set out its perspective to convince Singaporeans and to prevent any confusion. Ultimately, elected leaders are responsible to their people and face elections, he stressed. “If the people endorse what we do, we will continue to serve them with their mandate. If we are not doing the right thing, well, another team will be in charge. “On that basis, you can accept criticism without being defensive or without being overly swayed by different views and find the right path forward for Singapore.”

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In her Tweet, Ms Han said: “I have been smeared, harassed, investigated, and on Friday the police took the shirt off my back”.

Ms Han, another activist Rocky Howe and several others were taken in for investigations. In a statement on Sunday (June 26), the police said Ms Han and Mr Howe were interviewed on Friday as part of investigations into the assemblies. T-shirts with anti-death penalty slogans that Ms Han and Mr Howe wore on the day of the interview were relevant to the probe, the police added in response to queries. The police also added that Ms Han and Mr Howe had agreed to hand over their t-shirts.

On Tuesday (Jun 28), “7 human rights organizations urgently call on the Singaporean authorities to drop their criminal investigations of human rights defenders Kirsten Han and Rocky Howe and cease harassing them through legal processes for their work”. 

These organisations are Access Now, Amnesty International, ARTICLE 19, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, FORUM-ASIA, Human Rights Watch and International Commission of Jurists.
In their email, the seven organisations “also call on the Singaporean authorities to repeal or substantially amend all laws that are not compliant with international human rights law and standards, including the Protection Against Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act and the Administration of Justice (Protection) Act”.

 

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Read also:

 SG ambassador to the US rebuts activist Kirsten Han’s POFMA op-ed in the New York Times – Singapore News 

MHA issues POFMA correction order to Malaysia’s Lawyers for Liberty, Yahoo Singapore, TOC & Kirsten Han over claims of ‘brutal’ executions