Anti-death penalty activist group issued fifth Pofma Order

Anti-death penalty group Transformative Justice Collective has been issued a correction order under Singapore's fake news law over social media posts about the scheduling of a prisoner for execution.

- Shabana Begum

This is the fifth time the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) Office has issued a correction direction for the activist group's statements related to death row prisoners and legal processes.

On Dec 3, the group published posts on four social media sites - Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok - saying that a death row prisoner was scheduled for execution before he had the opportunity to submit his clemency petition to the President. This is not true, said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Dec 14.

When the execution of the prisoner, Roslan Bakar, was scheduled and carried out on Nov 15, he had no outstanding relevant legal proceedings that would affect the carrying out of his sentence, added MHA.

"An execution will only be scheduled when a death row prisoner has exhausted all rights of appeal and the clemency process in relation to his or her conviction and sentence," said the ministry.