SINGAPORE, April 14 — Two individuals accused of publishing seditious articles on website The Real Singapore were slapped with eight charges today.
Singaporean Yang Kaiheng, 26, and Australian Ai Takagi, 22, face seven counts each under the Sedition Act and one count each under the Penal Code for failing to produce accounts for online advertisements to the police.
Their alleged offences took place between 2013 and this year. Two charges relate to content posted on their website and Facebook page alleging police brutality at the Thaipusam procession this year, that falsely asserted that a Filipino family had caused an incident between the police and Thaipusam participants on Feb 3. According to court documents, the content has the tendency to promote ill-will and hostility between ethnic Indians and Philippine nationals in Singapore.
Another charge relates to a seditious article published on Oct 13, 2013, that is said to promote ill-will and hostility between Singaporeans and foreign nationals. The article alleged that a woman who put down an adopted puppy works for a company that hires mostly foreigners. The article was accompanied by an Editor’s note allegedly written by Takagi but that was signed off by “Farhan.”
Takagi and Yang are represented by lawyer Choo Zheng Xi. A pre-trial conference is scheduled next month. — TODAY
