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The Transformative Justice Collective's (TJC) application to cancel or vary a Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) correction direction has been rejected.

TJC is a group advocating for the death penalty to be abolished in Singapore.

POFMA direction issued on May 19

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) wrote in a May 30, 2023 press release that TJC posted a false statement of fact on its Facebook page on Apr. 23 concerning the execution of Tangaraju S/O Suppiah.

A POFMA correction direction was issued to TJC on May 19, 2023.

Under the direction, TJC was required to insert a correction notice at the top of its Facebook post.

The notice stated that the Facebook post contained a false statement of fact and included a link to a Factually article, which sets out the correct facts.

Factually is a site run by the Singapore government to debunk misinformation and disinformation.

Application rejected

TJC was also required to post the correction notice as a new post on its Facebook page.

TJC filed an application to cancel the correction direction, but it was rejected by the Minister for Communications and Information and Second Minister for Home Affairs.

MHA explained: "The conditions for issuing the correction direction are satisfied, and the application did not disclose any grounds to the contrary."

TJC has been notified of the rejection.

Background

Tangaraju was convicted of abetting the trafficking of 1017.9g of cannabis sometime between Sep. 6 and 7, 2013.

He was sentenced to death on Oct. 9, 2018.

On Apr. 19, 2023, Tangaraju's family learnt that Tangaraju's execution had been scheduled for Apr. 26.

TJC released several Facebook posts in the lead-up to the execution on Apr. 26.

False statements in TJC's Apr. 23 Facebook post

This included the Apr. 23 post that MHA deemed to have contained false statements.

The false statements claimed that Tangaraju was denied his requests for an interpreter during the recording of his statement and that he did not have an interpreter nor access to legal counsel during his trial.

Factually

According to Factually's May 19 article, these claims were false.

"Tangaraju’s allegation that he requested for but was denied an interpreter during the recording of his statement is false, and was rejected by the High Court.

The High Court found this bare allegation, raised for the first time during Tangaraju’s cross-examination, to be disingenuous given Tangaraju’s admission that he had made no such request for any of the other statements subsequently recorded from him.

Tangaraju was accorded full due process under the law. He was represented by legal counsel and had access to an interpreter throughout his trial."

Tangaraju was hanged at dawn on Apr. 26, 2023.

He was 46.

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Top image from Transformative Justice Collective/Facebook and POFMA Office website