HAN HUI HUI: NO ONE SPEAKS UP ABOUT S’PORE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS, SO WE WILL

As there were no Singaporean speakers speaking on the human rights violations of freedom of expression, assembly and rights to legal representation in Singapore, and there wasn’t any workshop regarding human rights defenders’ court cases in Singapore, the following are some of the recent cases that have happened and requires your solidarity:

2013:

– Singapore government made use of the sedition act to arrest, detain and threatened to jail a cartoonist (Leslie Chew).

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/singaporescene/pore-cartoonist-arrested-alleged-sedition-143415161.html

– A Singapore government statutory board made use of taxpayers’ money to threaten a 21-year-old blogger (Han Hui Hui) with a defamation suit.

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/s-pore-blogger-takes-stat-board-to-court-after-being-sued-for-defamatory-emails–012349169.html

2014:

– Singapore’s prime minister sued a blogger (Roy Ngerng) for defamation.

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/pm-lee-commences-suit-against-blogger-roy-ngerng

– Singapore police harassed protesters (Han Hui Hui, Ivan Koh, Janet Low, Goh Aik Huat, Roy Ngerng, Chua Siew Leng) with very late night visits to their homes and long interviews without any meal in the police station.

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/police-question-blogger-han-hui-hui-over-hong-lim-park-protest-that-disrupted-charity

2015:

– Singapore government jailed a 17-year-old youtuber (Amos Yee) for sedition for posting a youtube video.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/teen-blogger-amos-yee/1841236.html

– Singapore government used 4 deputy public prosecutors (Francis Ng Yong Kiat, John Lu Zhuoren, Amanda Chong Wei-Zhen and Jane Lim Ern Hui) to charge protesters (Han Hui Hui, Ivan Koh, Janet Low, Goh Aik Huat) in court without any legal representation.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/hong-lim-park-protests/2192320.html

– Singapore’s human rights lawyer (M Ravi) had his license suspended after taking up the #ReturnOurCPF court trial which violates the fundamental rights to freedom of speech and assembly.

http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/activist-lawyer-m-ravi-suspended-practice-high-court

2016:

– On 27 June, Singapore judge Chay Yuan Fatt found 24-year-old activist Han Hui Hui guilty of illegal demonstration and public nuisance, facing a fine of $3,100 or 5 weeks’ jail which disqualify me from standing for parliamentary election for the next five years, two fellow activists (Ivan Koh and Janet Low) were fined $400 each for public nuisance.

(Current status: awaiting judge’s detailed judgement in order to appeal the case)

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/blogger-han-hui-hui-fined/2908436.html

– On 28 June, Singapore judge Chay Yuan Fatt found 27-year-old blogger Yang Kaiheng guilty of 6 sedition charges, facing no fine but a jail term of 8 months.

(Current status: serving jail term together with his wife (Ai Takagi) who faces a 10 months’ jail term)

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/trs-trial-yang-kaiheng/2911566.html

YOU CAN HELP!

· Forward this email to as many people as possible in order to raise awareness regionally and globally.

· Get your organizations to publish statements against human rights violations against Singaporean human rights defenders.

· Appeal by sending letters to the Singapore government at the Singapore embassy in your country.

The links above are by the government-controlled mainstream media, as we do not have independent or alternative media to help report on the cases.

Some human rights organizations who have stood in solidarity and helped us are as follows:

Amnesty International: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa36/4342/2016/en/

Front Line Defenders: https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/profile/han-hui-hui

Human Rights Watch: https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2016/country-chapters/singapore

Universal Periodic Review: https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/06/23/hrw-submission-universal-periodic-review-singapore

International Federation for Human Rights: https://www.fidh.org/en/region/asia/singapore/drop-charges-against-three-peaceful-protestors

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session32/Documents/A_HRC_32_36_Add.3_en.docx

Han Hui Hui
A.S.S. Contributor