Anti-death penalty activist faces Pofma Office investigation for defying correction order

An anti-death penalty activist has been referred to the office that administers Singapore's fake news law for investigation, after she defied an order to carry a correction notice in her social media posts about the legal processes for death row inmates.

- Kok Yufeng

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on Oct 31 that Ms Kokila Annamalai has chosen not to comply with the correction direction issued on Oct 5 despite repeated reminders.

The 36-year-old has also not sought to challenge the correction order in court, even though she is entitled to do so if she believes she did not put out any falsehoods, MHA added.

The ministry also noted that Transformative Justice Collective, the activist group that Ms Kokila works with and which made the same statements she did, had complied with the correction direction issued to them under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma).

"The Government does not target individuals or organisations for speaking out against the death penalty," MHA said in a statement.

"But where false statements are made about government policy which is a matter of significant public interest, then it is important that readers are made aware that what they may be reading is considered false by the Government."

Ms Kokila was issued the correction direction for statements she made on social media platforms Facebook, on Oct 2, and X, the next day.

These were in relation to Mohammad Azwan Bohari, 48, who was executed on Oct 4 after he was convicted in 2019 of possessing no less than 26.5g of diamorphine, or pure heroin, for the purposes of trafficking.