Anti-death penalty activists Jolovan Wham and Elijah Tay faced court on September 7 and 9, charged with 19 offences under Singapore’s Public Order Act and Penal Code.
Tay, who is also a campaigner in solidarity with Palestinians against the genocidal war in Gaza, participated in the Ecosocialism 2024 conference in Boorloo/Perth.
Tay is being charged with: participating in candlelight vigils for death row inmates; participating in a photo outside the state court where people had their fists raised and were all wearing "not in my name" t-shirts in solidarity with people sentenced to death; organising a shoe memorial for children martyred in Gaza outside an Israeli-linked research building at Singapore’s national university; participating in a walk to the Ministry of Home Affairs to deliver feedback about a proposed government law that would be detrimental to free speech; chanting "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" at a private indoor assembly livestreamed on social media; and for not answering a public servant (likely a police officer) during questioning.
Wham, who is an anti-death penalty activist, is also being charged with participating in a candlelight vigil for death-row inmates; organising an assembly outside the state courts; and not answering a public servant during questioning, among other charges.
Ahead of his court appearance, when asked if he had any regrets about his actions, Tay said “no regrets. If anything, the state will come to regret its actions.”
Following his appearance on September 7, Wham told social media he had asked the judge whether members of the judiciary and the AGC “sleep well at night being involved in the killing of economically vulnerable and marginalised death row inmates”.
“I also asked them if they feel they are being used by the PAP [the ruling People’s Action Party] to violate the constitutional rights of Singaporeans to free expression and assembly.
“The judge said [my questions] were not relevant, to which I answered that they are extremely relevant because they are matters of public interest and they also touch on issues of constitutional rights and social justice, and the court is the right platform to ask these questions.”
Tay and four others facing charges were joined by 300 supporters when they appeared in court on September 9. People filled both sides of the gallery and spilled outside the court.
One of the defendants, Dayana, from Mums for Palestine, is charged with organising a kite-flying event to honour children killed in Gaza. She told Workers Make Possible that despite the government’s claim that the event incited division, “we thought the event brought people together”.
Responding to the charges, Tay told social media the Singapore government should be held to account “for its complicity in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and its continued economic, military and diplomatic ties with the genocidal state of Israel”.