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.
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.
For this, they confiscated the shirts off our backs (I’m not kidding). Our friend, who was waiting for us, had to go to the market and buy us new shirts so that we could change and surrender our T-shirts before we could be released.
They also seized our phones and got us to unlock our phones for them. I agreed to surrender my phone; I had already uninstalled or logged out of most apps.
BUT THEN…
One of the officers—who identified himself as from the cybercrimes response team—then also demanded that I surrender my social media accounts (FB, IG, Twitter) and give them the passwords and not use these accounts until their investigation is over (whenever that might be).
This was *after* I had already surrendered my phone, and they had gone through it in front of me and observed that I had logged out of apps like Facebook, and uninstalled apps like Twitter and Instagram.
As a journalist with a responsibility towards the people I am in contact with, as well as serious concerns about privacy and digital security, I was not comfortable and not prepared to surrender my passwords. So I refused.
I am told that this means Section 39(3) of the Criminal Procedure Code—to do with obstruction—might come into play. I was informed that the penalty for this is a fine of up to S$5,000, or imprisonment for up to 6 months, or both.
So in a nutshell, this morning I walked into the police station to be investigated for two incidents/“offences”, and might have walked out of it with double the number of problems. 😫
(Oh yes, also the police are going to @justanotherock’s home again to confiscate the black anti-#deathpenalty T-shirt he wore in this photo)
It has been a very normal day in my very normal country
🧵 A thread to share the speech (with some edits to fit Twitter limits) that I gave in Hong Lim Park yesterday at the protest against the #deathpenalty in #Singapore, with further references in [ ].
⬇️⬇️⬇️
Thank you all for coming down today, despite the rain and the damp and the humidity.
By showing up, you’ve demonstrated your opposition to state violence in all our names.
By showing up, you’re also showing the many family members and loved ones of people on death row that there are people who stand with them.
This morning I worried that few people would show, especially because it rained earlier. When the government repeatedly says there’s overwhelming support for the #deathpenalty, it can make you feel very alone and on the fringe. Thank you to every single person who came today.
Members of Abdul Kahar's family attended the protest today. They, too, said that the turn-out was larger than they'd expected. Kahar's younger brother, Abdul Mutalib, told me, "It is over for my brother. Now we fight for everyone else."
When @Kokilaparvathi read out the names of people on death row (based on research done by @tjc_singapore), Mutalib expressed shock at how long the list was.
"There are 62 names," I told him.
His eyes widened. "62... [They're] not numbers. They're people."
@acadsingapore .@cheriangeorge kicking things off: "There's a widespread sense that this war in Eastern Europe is some kind of historical milestone... but on the way to what?" Don't know yet, but we do know that there are power shifts and events in Ukraine are "triggering complex reactions".
Walid Jumblatt Abdullah up first on his sense of SG reactions to the war in Ukraine. He says it's true that SGeans are generally supportive of the govt. On foreign policy, there is usually *even more* support. So far, seems to be support or ambivalence about Ukraine.
Speaking of the Social Development Network (the rebranded name after they merged the initiatives for graduates [SDU] and non-graduates [SDS]), for a long time I meant to write a @wethecitizenssg special issue about the time I went on an SDN-accredited speed dating session…
…but I never actually finished the issue because it didn’t feel like there was really quite enough to tell to make it a full newsletter issue.
On Twitter, though…
I can’t remember exactly which year it was, but I was probably about 22–23 years old. I was single at the time, but I went more out of curiosity and a hope that I would get a good story out of it than anything.
Also it was $30 for a three-course meal ‘cos government subsdies
As an anti-#deathpenalty activist and someone supporting Nagen’s family at this time, I’d like to respond to this horrific statement from #Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs. 👇🏼
Firstly: while the MHA statement rehashes what the courts said about Nagen’s actions being “the working of a criminal mind”, what *isn’t* disputed is that Nagen’s IQ is only 69, he has borderline intellectual functioning, ADHD, and his executive functioning skills are impaired.
Under international standards, these conditions should in and of themselves be enough for Nagen to be spared #deathpenalty. See this report from 2000 by the then-UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions: tind-customer-undl.s3.amazonaws.com/7de8b811-97c8-… This is not new!