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Tag: sedition

  • Amos Yee Allegedly In Solitary Confinement In The US For Insulting Muslims In Jail

    Amos Yee Allegedly In Solitary Confinement In The US For Insulting Muslims In Jail

    According to a Facebook post which has since been deleted, teen blogger Amos Yee is currently in solitary confinement for criticising Muslims and Islam during their Muslim Studies in jail; and that he is feeling terrible about it.

    According to Nina Palay who set up the relocation fund appeal for Yee, this is what happened.

    “He attended a Muslim Studies class, in order to “disagree”. There was a “Muslim pastor” from outside (not a prisoner) and about 18 Muslim prisoners in attendance. Amos called Allah a “sky wizard”. He said that if the religion is 5,000 years old then it’s “complete fucking garbage”. (He said “fuck” a lot). He said that the Quran has passages instructing the devout to kill non-Muslims; the pastor handed him the Quran and challenged him to show such passages, and when Amos said “Ok, I will”, the pastor took the Quran back.

    The pastor claimed “The Quran was the most respected and popular book in the U.S.”

    The pastor said Amos was disturbing the peace or something and got Sergeant R.Henson to sign a form putting him in solitary. Amos is certain that he is in solitary for punitive reasons, not for his own protection.

    He has been in solitary for 3 days. He doesn’t know how long he will be there. They don’t let him write, don’t give him paper. They let him out for one hour per day.

    Amos was “kicking, screaming, and banging the door yelling “LET ME OUT”, other prisoners heard him, the “police” came, opened his door, took a look, and left.

    Amos wants us to “tell his story” on Facebook, share with the global secular human rights movement, get on CNN and the Rubin Report. He wants the Rubin Report to interview me and Melissa to tell Amos’s story. “These people don’t know what they’re messing with. We gotta destroy them.” “MAKE IT BIG”. “This is a free speech issue and everyone will be on my side”.

    ++++

    My main concern right now is for Amos’s mental health. Solitary must be making it much worse.”

     

    Source: www.theindependent.sg

  • TRS Founder To Plead Guilty To Sedition Charges

    TRS Founder To Plead Guilty To Sedition Charges

    In a surprising turn of events, Yang Kaiheng, founder of socio-political website The Real Singapore (TRS), indicated yesterday that he wished to plead guilty to the seven sedition charges he faces.

    Yang, 27, had originally claimed trial, denying he had posted inflammatory articles on the TRS website and Facebook page between 2013 and 2015. (See report…)

    During the trial, which went on for seven days in March and April, Yang claimed his involvement in TRS was for only a month in 2012 after helping to set it up.

    The trial was supposed to have resumed yesterday until his lawyer told the judge in chambers about his client’s intention to plead guilty.

    During the trial, Yang claimed that his wife, Ai Takagi, 23, an Australian national of Japanese descent, was responsible for the day-to-day business and editorial content of TRS.

    Between December 2013 and April 2015, TRS raked in almost half a million dollars in advertising revenue, the court heard.

    In April, Yang claimed that he and Takagi had been inspired to start TRS after their Facebook page, which petitioned for the removal of new Member of Parliament (MP) Tin Pei Ling after the 2011 General Election, garnered about 60,000 likes.

    But during cross-examination, Deputy Public Prosecutor G. Kannan asked how this was possible when the couple had not yet met during the 2011 GE period.

    DPP Kannan said he had a log of very personal and embarrassing WhatsApp messages that proved they had met only after the petition Facebook page was created.

    Yang’s lawyer tried to interject, but Yang then conceded: “It’s okay, Your Honour, I admit I am lying.”

    The next day, Yang again admitted to lying – this time for having falsely told the police he did not know that his friend, Mr Damien Koh, was involved in setting up TRS.

    Yang had met Mr Koh, who later quit TRS, during their University of Queensland days.

    Yang told the court: “I was being investigated for sedition during my interview. I didn’t want to implicate my friend. I was sure he had nothing to do with sedition in the TRS site.”

    Yang turned up at the State Courts yesterday wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt and knee-length bermuda shorts.

    He is expected to be back in court tomorrow.

    If convicted of each charge under the Sedition Act, he faces up to three years’ jail and a fine of up to $5,000.

    Takagi pleaded guilty to sedition in March after also initially claiming trial and was jailed 10 months.

    Now about five months pregnant,, she began serving her sentence on April 22.

    HIS CHARGES

    Yang Kaiheng is accused of seven counts of sedition:

    • An article falsely asserting that a Filipino family caused an incident between the police and participants at last year’s Thaipusam procession.
    • A similar Facebook post.
    • An article alleging that a Filipino employee bribed a colleague to delete traces of his misdeeds to ensure that only his countrymen were hired by the company.
    • An article portraying women from China as home-wreckers whose main motive was “trying to hook” Singaporean men.
    • An article that had an editor’s note warning companies about hiring foreigners over Singaporeans.
    • An article claiming that Filipino managers working here would give preferential treatment to subordinates of the same nationality at the expense of Singaporeans.
    • Copied an article from Stomp about an elderly woman who told her grandson to urinate into a bottle on an MRT train, then doctored the article to say she was a Chinese national who allegedly had an accent and posted it on TRS.

    An eighth charge of failing to produce documents to the police for investigations has been stood down.

    TIMELINE OF CASE

    2012

    The Real Singapore (TRS) is set up.

    February 2015

    TRS publishes an article on Feb 4 alleging that a Filipino family’s complaint over noise from drummers led to a scuffle during the Thaipusam procession on Feb 3. The police receive reports about an “insensitive article” online the next day. The authorities arrest Yang Kaiheng and Ai Takagi in Singapore that month.

    April 2015

    Yang and Takagi are charged with sedition and failing to produce documents to the police.

    May 2015

    The Media Development Authority suspends TRS’ operating licence and orders that it be taken down.

    August 2015

    Yang and Takagi open two ramen stalls in two National University of Singapore foodcourts.

    October 2015

    They get married.

    January 2016

    They open a third ramen stall at a coffee shop in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 8.

    March 2016

    Yang claims trial while his wife pleads guilty. Takagi is sentenced to 10 months’ jail.

    April 2016

    During Yang’s trial, he admits to lying on two different occasions before the trial is adjourned to June. Takagi begins her sentence on April 22.

    June 2016

    Yang indicates he wishes to plead guilty.

  • Ello Ed Mundsell Bello Remorseful Over Remarks

    Ello Ed Mundsell Bello Remorseful Over Remarks

    Ello Ed Mundsell Bello, the Filipino nurse sentenced to four months imprisonment in Singapore for sedition, is “truly remorseful and sorry” for what he did, which was posting disparaging comments against Singaporeans on Facebook, according to his lawyer.

    “A long time ago before the trials, he said that he’s truly remorseful and sorry because of what he has done,” said Mark Goh in an interview after the court slapped Bello, 29, with the sentence Monday.

    Goh noted that Bello, 29, pleaded guilty for the charges.

    “My client has surrendered. In fact he has already decided on a personal level that it has caused him already a lot of anxiety and stress. And therefore he did not want to perpetuate the trial and decided to plead guilty,” he said.

    Aside from posting seditious messages on Facebook, Bello was also convicted for lying to the police.

    All in all, he faced one count of sedition and two counts of lying to the police before District Judge Siva Shanmugam. An additional count of sedition and another count for false reporting were considered by Shanmugam.

    Deportation

    Goh said after serving jail term, Bello will be deported back to Philippines and banned to come back to Singapore for a certain period of time.

    “He will definitely be repatriated. Under Singapore immigration law, he will not be able to come back to Singapore for a certain period of time and after that period of time, subject to good review, he may be able to go back to Singapore,” the lawyer said.

    Bello’s disparaging comments against Singaporeans made rounds on social media in early January. In his post on The Real Singapore’s Facebook page, he said, “Now the Singaporeans are loosers (sic) in their own country, we take their jobs, their future, their women and soon, we will evict all SG loosers (sic) out of their own country hahaha. The best part, I will be praying that disators (disasters) strike Singapore and more Singaporeans will die than I will celebrate. Remember Pinoy better and stronger than Stinkaporeans.”

    He further commented, “We will kick out all the Singaporeans and SG will be the new filipino state.”

    Bello initially reported to the police that he did not post the comment, claiming his account was hacked. Goh said his client lied because he feared for an online backlash.

    The controversy cost Bello his job in Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where he worked as a radiographer.

    Ready to take punishment

    Goh said the decision to plead guilty means that the accused himself does not want to fight and does not want to contest the matter in trial. “It is a personal decision and not a legal decision,” he said.

    He added that by pleading guilty, Bello has “mentally accepted his guilt and he is mentally prepared to take the punishment.”

    “The reason why Ed was mentally prepared is because he felt that he has caused enough stress between the Filipino community working here and also the Singapore citizens,” Goh said. “So he wants to move on.”

    “After the course of these proceedings, there was a lot of unhappiness on the ground. That’s not denied. He also felt that it was also very difficult for him to stay here in view of this situation. In a way he described to me, in his own words, like shooting himself on the foot. And he has already been punished with all the negative publicity and that he just wants to get on with his life,” Goh added.

    The Philippine Embassy in Singapore, through Consul General Victorio Dimagiba, Jr.,
    released a statement, sayin “Mr. Ello’s penalty which was metted out by the court was deemed appropriate to the charges he had been convicted.”

    The embassy hopes that “since Bello has accepted the verdict of the court, this will close the issue for all parties concerned.” —KBK, GMA News

     

    Source: www.gmanetwork.com

  • Walid J. Abdullah: Society, Not State, The Answer To Police And Nip Seditious Comments

    Walid J. Abdullah: Society, Not State, The Answer To Police And Nip Seditious Comments

    I always get worried when someone is charged or jailed for saying something ‘wrong’. Believe me, i know all about racist/derogatory comments (i am Muslim and Indian, after all!), but even with regards to those who make such remarks towards my religion or ethnicity, i would never advocate for the strong arm of the law to punish the offender.

    And what is even more worrying for me, i see so many people cheering the sentence of the dude who allegedly hurt so many Singaporeans with his comments; and in fact, many are asking for a longer jail term.

    Do we really have to punish people who make the slightest of offensive remarks? Can’t we disagree loudly and passionately, or call them out ourselves? Can we ever solve racism or attain true racial harmony if our response is to utilize the full force of the state each time something like this happens?

    I say: always be careful if you advocate for more state intervention in terms of punishment, because today it may be someone else who said something ‘wrong’; tomorrow, when societal conditions and/or the state change, it may be your turn.

     

    Source: Walid J. Abdullah

  • Filipino Ello Ed Mundsel Bello Sentenced To 4 Months Imprisonment For Seditious Remarks

    Filipino Ello Ed Mundsel Bello Sentenced To 4 Months Imprisonment For Seditious Remarks

    A Singapore court on Monday sentenced a Filipino nurse to four months in prison for posting inflammatory comments on Facebook against Singaporeans and lying to police investigators.

    Ello Ed Mundsel Bello, 29, a former employee of government-run Tan Tock Seng Hospital, had posted comments insulting Singaporeans and calling for the takeover of the city-state by his countrymen.

    State Courts Judge Siva Shanmugam sentenced Bello to three months in jail for sedition in relation to his Facebook posts, and another month for lying to police who investigated him following complaints from the public.

    “In a nation whose only resource are its people, we simply cannot afford to condone any act which poses a threat to our social stability and security,” the judge said.

    Prosecutors had asked for a prison term of five months. Bello’s lawyer told reporters his client would not appeal the sentence and hoped to be back in the Philippines by Christmas with a sentence reduction for good behaviour in prison.

    Singapore, a densely populated immigrant nation which suffered racial riots in the 1960s, uses sedition laws to clamp down on locals and foreigners found to have incited ethnic tensions.

    In a Facebook post on January 2, Bello wrote: “Singaporeans are loosers (sic) in their own country, we take their jobs, their future, their women and soon we will evict all SG loosers (sic) out of their own country hahaha.”

    In a subsequent comment, Bello said “we will kick out all the Singaporeans and SG will be the new filipino state”.

    After an outcry from Singaporeans, Bello took down his posts and claimed to police investigators that his account had been hacked by an unknown person. But he eventually admitted posting the comments.

    Prosecutors said Bello’s misleading statements to the police aggravated his original offences and led to “unnecessary wastage” of investigative resources.

    – Provocative conduct –

    Singaporeans who have written or published racist comments about other ethnic groups as well as foreigners have also been prosecuted.

    The Filipino community in Singapore is estimated at more than 170,000. Once largely made up of maids, majority of the community is now in service jobs and professional positions including senior bankers and technology executives.

    About 40 percent of Singapore’s population of 5.5 million are foreigners. The wealthy city-state depends heavily on guest workers because of its low fertility rate.

    In his sentencing remarks, the judge said Ello’s postings on the now defunct Facebook page of an online forum called “The Real Singapore” had “the potential to harm relations between Singaporeans and Filipinos in Singapore.”

    “The accused’s provocative conduct, if left unchecked, could possibly result in discrimination against the innocent and law-abiding minority Filipino residents in Singapore,” the judge added.

    A Singaporean man and Australian woman behind “The Real Singapore” are themselves facing sedition charges after publishing a false report that incited vitriolic online attacks on Filipinos in Singapore.

    Bello could have been sentenced to three years in prison for sedition and a year for lying to the police, but the judge said he was a first-time offender who showed remorse by pleading guilty at the first opportunity

     

    Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com