34-year-old Zainal Abidin Shaiful Bahari, better known as Twitter user @SharonLiew86, has been charged in court on July 2 for knowingly committing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of racial harmony.

Zainal appeared in court on July 2, dressed in a brown coat and a white formal shirt.

He faces four charges under Section 298A of the Penal Code, and the prosecution said that it would be proceeding on two of those.

Under Section 298A, it is an offence to knowingly commit any act that is prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between different groups on grounds of race.

Should Zainal be found guilty, he faces a jail term of up to three years, a fine, or both, for each charge.

He has also been granted bail, with the bail amount set at S$5,000, and was reminded not to commit any offence while on bail, and not to interfere with witnesses.

Offensive tweets

A photo of a Chinese woman was used as his Twitter profile picture, and he often used the account to post incendiary tweets on the topic of race and religion.

Here are some examples of his tweets:

Police report made on April 18

The police received a report of offensive content against Indian migrant workers on the account on April 18, 2020.

Officers from Bedok Police Division established the identity of the 34-year-old man on April 23.

They also discovered that he had allegedly been involved in two other similar cases.

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Top photo from Twitter and Nigel Chua