SINGAPORE: The administrator of Wake Up Singapore (WUSG) was charged on Wednesday (Apr 24) over the publication of an online article about a purported miscarriage at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH).
Ariffin Iskandar Sha Ali Akbar, 26, was handed one count of defamation under the Penal Code.
His charge sheet states that he defamed KKH on Mar 23, 2022 by publishing “an imputation concerning KKH” with the article “The baby is probably dead – Women shares a harrowing account of her miscarriage at KKH A&E” on WUSG’s website, Instagram and Facebook pages.
Ariffin is represented by lawyer Gino Hardial Singh, who asked for time to make representations. No indication of plea was taken.
His case will return to court on May 24.
According to an earlier Singapore Police Force news release, the article alleged that KKH’s mismanagement of healthcare services resulted in a female patient suffering a miscarriage after a four-hour wait for COVID-19 treatment and abdominal pains at KKH’s Accident & Emergency Department on Feb 28, 2022.
The hospital lodged a police report two days after it was published.
Investigations found that Ariffin was purportedly the administrator for WUSG’s website, Facebook page and Instagram page and that the allegations in the article were false.
In response to TODAY’s queries on Tuesday, Ariffin, now a legal executive, confirmed that he is the founder of WUSG.
If found guilty of defamation, he can be jailed for up to two years, fined, or both.
WAKE UP SINGAPORE APOLOGISED
The alternative news source apologised for publishing the woman’s claims after she admitted to lying. It published the apologies on its social media platforms on Mar 25, 2022.
“We have since realised that her call logs, her invoices, and her correspondence, may have all been doctored,” it said.
It was also issued a correction direction under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) in March 2022.
The Ministry of Health at the time said that KKH had identified the patient and found that the woman had been seen by a doctor within an hour of her arrival at the hospital in February 2022. She did not suffer any miscarriage.
WUSG published the correction notices on Facebook and Instagram soon after MOH issued its media release, and took down the original posts.
