Kirsten Han Profile picture
Sep 21, 2020 10 tweets 5 min read Read on X
In 2018, #Singapore Prison Service forwarded 4 letters Syed wrote to his uncle + 1 letter he wrote to his then-DEFENCE COUNSEL to the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

At that time, Syed’s capital case was before the Court of Appeal. AGC was the prosecution. wethecitizens.substack.com/p/when-the-pri…
The Community Action Network and #Singapore Anti-#DeathPenalty Campaign have issued a statement: singaporecan.wordpress.com/2020/09/20/que…

There needs to be an independent investigation into and accounting for this clear breach of inmates’ privacy, and in Syed’s case, solicitor-client privilege.
From an August 2020 Court of Appeal judgment, we learn that this wasn’t an isolated case. Another death row inmate, Datchinamurthy, complained that the prison had, w/o consent, forwarded to the AGC documents given to him by his family.

From para 84: supremecourt.gov.sg/docs/default-s…
When Datchinamurthy complained, the Singapore Prison Service and Attorney-General’s Chambers argued that they hadn’t done anything wrong since his documents weren’t privileged communications between him and his lawyer. (So what about Syed’s letter to his lawyer in 2018?!) Image
This is the relevant part of the prison regulations. Note that (4) says the prison can’t copy/withhold correspondence between a prisoner and their legal advisor. How and why did the prison forward Syed’s letter to his lawyer to the AGC? Image
The Court of Appeal made it clear that there’s “no legal basis” for the #Singapore Prison Service to be forwarding inmates’ documents/correspondence to the AGC. It said “the proper procedure would have been to obtain the prisoner’s consent or an order of court.” Image
How often does the #Singapore Prison Service do this “forwarding without consent” thing? We don’t know exactly. But it appears as if they do it even when the Attorney General’s Chambers *doesn’t* specifically ask for correspondence/documents. 😱😱😱 Image
Disclosing an inmate’s communication w/ his defence counsel to the prosecution is serious. It’s providing privileged information to the adverse party, and is unfair to the inmate, *especially* ‘cos he’s in the prison’s custody and they have such power over his communications.
Given this unfairness against Syed, can it really be considered safe to execute him?

Further: how often has the #Singapore Prison Service done this? How many other inmates and their defence lawyers have been affected? How many cases could have potentially been prejudiced?
Adding a correction to this thread: I missed that 127A of the Prison Regulations was only brought in in Sept 2018, months after Syed’s letters were sent.

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More from @kixes

Nov 8, 2022
🧵 on Twitter and Mu*k, from the perspective of a journalist/activist from #Singapore (me)

1/ I am from a country that has significant issues with civil, political, and human rights. But my government also puts significant effort into public relations to bolster its reputation.
2/ I'm constantly meeting people who have no idea that, in #Singapore, you can be arrested for holding up a placard in public. That 11 men have been executed this year for #drugs. That we have serious issues with press freedom and media diversity.
3/ In this context, Twitter has been, and is, an extremely valuable tool in allowing me — a freelance journalist and activist with limited resources and no big institutional backing — to talk to people outside of #Singapore about our problems.
Read 16 tweets
Aug 21, 2022
As expected before #ndr2022:

#Singapore will finally repeal Section 377A (which criminalises sex between men), while also undermining the main point of repealing Section 377A by enshrining the discrimination against #LGBTQ people elsewhere

channelnewsasia.com/singapore/ndr-…
Once the Constitution is amended it's going to be freakin' hard to change it again. And as Lee himself points out, this is not just about marriage. It affects housing, education, who gets to be recognised as next-of-kin, even advertising and film codes (media censorship).
Right now, Section 377A is not enforced. So the reason it should be repealed is not 'cos gay men are getting arrested for having sex, but 'cos 377A exists as a signal that #LGBTQ people are different and less acceptable and therefore can be discriminated against.
Read 10 tweets
Aug 4, 2022
🧵 I’ve been sharing updates but wanted to put together a thread covering the substantive points of the Court of Appeal hearing today (well, yesterday now) involving 24 death row prisoners in #Singapore

#DeathPenalty #StopTheKilling
On 1 August, 24 death row prisoners filed an originating claim against the state, in relation to their right to access to justice. They claimed that the practice of handing out punitive cost orders against lawyers have deterred lawyers from taking on late-stage capital cases.
Due to this fear, they say that they’ve faced difficulties finding lawyers to represent them. Therefore, this practice of imposing cost orders has affected their constitutional rights in relation to access to justice.
Read 44 tweets
Aug 4, 2022
It’s 8:51pm and the judges haven’t returned yet. There was just an announcement that it will be about 20 minutes or so longer. 😣

Lots of anxious families right now, none more so than Abdul Rahim’s loved ones, who are waiting to find out if he will be granted a stay.
We’re still waiting here. It’s 9:33pm.
Read 10 tweets
Aug 4, 2022
It’s been about an hour since the court stood down to deliberate the appeal brought by 24 death row prisoners against the High Court striking out their civil suit relating to their right to access to justice. The hearing is conducted on Zoom so the 24 are calling in from prison.
On multiple screens in the courtroom you can see the Zoom gallery. 24 of those little rectangles are the death row prisoners, representing themselves because they don’t have a lawyer to represent them in this application.
It took some time to bring them all into the Zoom room and make sure they were all connected, audio working, etc. So instead of putting them in the waiting room like it usually does, they’ve just been left in the room while the judges were put in the waiting room.
Read 4 tweets
Jun 24, 2022
Okay, finally got access. If I understood what happened to me in interrogation correctly, after this morning there are now *more* offences that @justanotherock and I are on the hook for. Just going to sum it up as best I can…
The original 2 alleged offences that @justanotherock and I were questioned for this morning were: (1) when 4 of us hung out outside Changi Prison chatting the night of Kahar was executed, and (2) when we took photos outside of prison a couple of nights before Nagen was hanged. Image
However, ‘cos @justanotherock and I were wearing (different) T-shirts with anti-#deathpenalty slogans today, the police claim that we have committed another offence of “illegal procession”, ‘cos we walked from the market across the street to the police station this morning.
Read 13 tweets

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