Ariffin Iskandar Sha Ali Akbar, the 26-year-old founder of Wake Up Singapore (WUSG), has been charged with criminal defamation.

The Singaporean had been involved in the publication of a since-removed 2022 article in which a woman claimed she had a miscarriage at KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH).

The woman accused the hospital staff of displaying a lack of professionalism and dumping out her dead foetus with the medical waste.

She later admitted that she lied.

Ariffin arrived at court on the morning of Apr. 24 with his lawyer, Gino Hardial Singh from Abbots Chambers LLC.

His lawyer requested time to take instructions and make representations, and the case was adjourned till May 24.

If found guilty of criminal defamation, he could be jailed for up to two years, fined, or both.

The claim

The first-person account was published on WUSG on Mar. 23, 2022.

In the post, the expectant mother alleged that she was made to wait for four hours after arriving at the hospital, and that she suffered a miscarriage while waiting.

She also alleged that when she asked if she could have the foetus returned to her for a proper burial, she was told it had been dumped out together with the medical waste.

KKH later released a statement saying that the online report was "incorrect".

On Mar. 25, 2022, WUSG published an apology, adding that they had received doctored medical documents from the woman.

On Mar. 27, 2022, the Ministry of Health instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office to issue a correction direction to WUSG.

In response to Mothership's queries on Apr. 23, Ariffin apologised again and said it was "a genuine mistake".

Investigations revealed that he had been the administrator for WUSG’s website, Facebook page, and Instagram page.

"We take full responsibility for the incident and we have since put in place measures to ensure that such an event does not reoccur."

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Top image by Mothership