SINGAPORE: Activist Jolovan Wurm will go to jail instead of paying a third fine after his appeal against the ruling and conviction of an illegal assembly held outside a state court in 2018 was dismissed. I was.
Wham, 42, appealed to the High Court on Friday (September 9) to appeal one conviction of participating in an assembly in a prohibited area under the Public Order and Morality Act.
He also appealed a SGD3,000 fine in February. The default imprisonment for not paying the fine is 15 days for him.
Wam’s indictment came after he hung a sign outside the State Courthouse on the morning of December 13, 2018 that read, “Charges Against Teri Shue and Daniel De Costa Dropped.”
The Online Citizen’s editors-in-chief, Terry Xu Yuanchen and Daniel De Costa Augustin, were indicted in state court that day on charges of defamation for articles written for the now-defunct website.
On Friday, Wam showed up with a group of supporters in a smiley face shirt. I received an appropriate disclaimer.
His attorney, Johannes Hadi, asked the court, “Do I need a permit to take pictures outside the state courts?”
He argued that if it is “not offensive to public order and morals,” it does not fall under the category of an assembly that is offensive to public order and morals.
If his appeal to the conviction was dismissed, he instead demanded a lower fine of S$1,500 or five days’ imprisonment.
Deputy Attorney General Tai Wei Shyong said it was not for Wham to determine whether Wham’s activities pose a threat to public order.
He said Wam’s claim that an activity must cause actual or potential disruption to public order before it can be considered a gathering is “fundamentally inconsistent” with Wam’s previous permit applications. pointed out.
Prior to the Dec. 13, 2018 out-of-state court case, Wam had filed at least eight applications under the Public Order Act for permission to hold rallies and marches between 2010 and 2018. was doing.
In particular, Wam applied on 9 November 2018 for permission to hold a Human Rights Day rally in Padang on 10 December 2018. He later wrote to police on November 21, 2018: On December 9, 2018 he changed his location to a location 15 meters outside his main entrance to the State Court at 21:00. Are you sure about this?”
His permit application was denied on December 5, 2018, and police told Wham they wanted to hold an event at Speakers’ Corner.
Tai said Wham applied for a permit, meaning he thought what he wanted to do was within the permit system.
Wham had taken another similar lawsuit to the Court of Appeals, essentially challenging the permit system, Tai said.
“The whole purpose of this is to put the demo on social media,” he said. .”
He added, “This is essentially what activists do,” and said reach on social media is important when it comes to sentencing.
Justice Vincent Hoong held that the appeal should be dismissed, adding that he would explain the reasons at a later date.
Wham has admitted not paying the fine and will instead serve the default 15 days in prison starting Friday.
This is the third time Wam has chosen to go to jail instead of paying a fine. The first time she did so was in January 2019, when he was fined S$2,000 for organizing a public gathering without a permit at an event titled ‘Civil Disobedience and Social Movements’.
The second time was last February, when he was fined S$4,500 for holding an unauthorized public gathering on an MRT train to commemorate Operation Spectrum.
