The trial of three activists from the Singaporean activist group, Letters for Palestine, entered its sixth and final day, on July 8.
Camira Asrori, Mossammad Sobikun Nahar and Annamalai Kokila Parvathi are charged with organising a procession without a permit under the country’s Public Order Act (POA).
The case centres around a procession on February 2 last year, when 70 people gathered outside the Prime Minister’s office to deliver letters to the PM. Participants carried umbrellas decorated as watermelons in support of the Palestinian cause. Prosecutors argued they needed a permit for the event.
The court will reconvene on September 16 to hear closing arguments and clarifications, before a verdict is handed down. If found guilty, Camira, Kokila and Sobikun could face a maximum penalty of SGD10,000 (A$11,940) and/or 6-months gaol.
Dayana, who testified in support of the three activists, told the court why she joined the event, saying “I believed it was the right thing to do while a genocide was unfolding on livestream.”
Another witness, Sophia, a visual artist, testified that “after witnessing four months of atrocities, I felt I had to do something physically — that’s why I signed up for the event … I felt like I needed to be physically there to see my letters being delivered.”
When Sobikun was asked about her motivations for organising the event, she told the court that “many Singaporeans had emailed or mailed letters to their MPs and Ministers and had received no response” and she felt it would be a good idea to deliver letters in person. She said that the International Court of Justice had just ruled that Israel’s actions in Gaza plausibly constituted genocide and it was urgent to ensure Singapore was not complicit. She noted that a previous letter delivery for Palestine had occurred in January that year.
Sobikun testified that in December 2021 and April 2023 she had taken part in letter deliveries calling for clemency for death row prisoners along the same route from Plaza Singapura to the Istana (PM’s office) without any legal trouble.
The trial was held amid the backdrop of Israel’s ongoing genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza. While Singapore’s neighbours, Malaysia and Indonesia, have been part of the recent Hague Group meeting, where more than 30 governments met to coordinate legal and diplomatic efforts to end Israel’s apartheid and genocide, the Singaporean government continues its support of Israel.
Students for Palestine posted on Instagram: “Amidst all this, we remain painfully conscious that the genocide in Palestine worsens by the day, as the IDF [Israel Defence Forces] continues committing horrific war crimes with impunity ... We are proud to stand with a global movement of people who refuse to be silent in face of a genocide.”
[To find out more about the Students for Palestine Singapore’s campaign visit https://www.instagram.com/sgacadboycott.]