Court of Appeal reinstates LFL's lawsuit against Singapore home minister

The Court of Appeal has reinstated Lawyers for Liberty’s (LFL) lawsuit against Singapore Home Minister K Shanmugam over a "correction direction" pursuant to Singapore's Protection From Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act 2019 (Pofma), in relation to claims the group had published on prisoners’ treatment.

A three-judge panel today overturned the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision in 2020 to strike out the human rights group’s suit against Shanmugam, paving the way for it to be heard in Malaysia.

LFL had also sued the Malaysian government to restrain them from assisting in enforcing Singapore’s Pofma order on the group here.

“The court agreed there are merits in LFL’s suits, and the suits were not fit and proper cases for striking out.

“Both suits ought to be given mature consideration.

“Hence, the High Court’s judgment in striking out the suits is overturned,” a group representative said in a statement.

There was no order as to costs for the appeals and the matters are to be heard before another High Court judge, LFL added.

The group’s suits revolve around Singapore’s issuance of a “correction direction” under Pofma, after the group published details of Malaysian prisoners being executed brutally and unlawfully at Changi Prison on Jan 16, 2020.

LFL ordered to make corrections

A “correction direction” is issued by the Singapore government to an offending party to make a correction notice for publications deemed false or erroneous and to also provide access to the correct facts.

In a 2020 statement on its official portal, the Singapore government claimed that LFL's allegations contained "false statements of fact".

"LFL's allegation that the Singapore Prison Service applies the alleged procedure for judicial executions is completely baseless,” the statement had said.

Singapore’s Home Ministry had called the claims "untrue, baseless and preposterous allegations", adding that all judicial executions in the state were carried out in strict compliance with the law.

It instructed the Pofma office to issue a "correction direction" against LFL’s statement on its website.

Both of LFL’s suits will now be heard at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

Shanmugan’s appearance will be required for him to defend himself in the suit against him. - Mkini