July 07, 2020, 03:19 PM
The Singapore Police Force (SPF) confirmed on July 7 that reports have been lodged over posts made by a Facebook user who used the moniker "Abdul Malik Mohammed Ghazali".
One of the posts made by Abdul Malik called for Workers' Party (WP) candidate Raeesah Khan to step down, and said that her father would "be next".
The user also took credit for leaking screenshots of tweets from Khan's Twitter account.
Offences under investigation
In response to media queries, the police said in a statement that they are looking into the alleged offences of:
- Posting comments on social media with deliberate intent to wound religious or racial feelings, under Section 298 of the Penal Code.
- Harassment, under Section 4 of the Protection from Harassment Act.
Screenshots of post circulating online
Screenshots purporting to show one of the offending posts by Abdul Malik have been circulating on social media.
While the screenshots show that the post was public, it appears to have been deleted or made private.
Image via Remy Choo Zheng Xi on Facebook.
The post poses a question on what will happen to Raeesah in light of police reports being made against her.
It also claims credit for being "one of the first to leak out and viral screenshots of her Twitter account".
"[M]any unnamed sources" are also acknowledged for "helping to provide the information".
The picture at the bottom of the post is likely to be from a link preview from the following post by CNA:
Meanwhile, other allegedly racist posts made by the same user are circulating online as well.
Here is the statement from SPF in full:
"In response to media queries on one Facebook user using the moniker, 'Abdul Malik Mohammed Ghazali', the Police confirm that reports have been lodged against him. The Police are looking into the alleged offences of posting comments on social media with deliberate intent to wound religious or racial feelings under Section 298 of the Penal Code and harassment under Section 4 of the Protection from Harassment Act. Investigations are ongoing."
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Top image via Facebook user and Raeesah Khan on Facebook
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