Singapore: Criminal proceedings against human rights defenders Jolovan Wham, Elijah Tay, Kirsten Han, and Kokila Annamalai over peaceful activism

The Observatory has been informed about the criminalisation and judicial harassment of Mr. Jolovan Wham, a social worker and human rights defender, Elijah Tay, a human rights defender, who identifies as non-binary, affiliated with the Transformative Justice Collective (TJC), a civil society group advocating for human rights and the abolition of the death penalty in Singapore, as well as two other TJC activists, Mses Kirsten Han and Kokila Annamalai.

On 3 September 2026, Mr. Jolovan Wham and Elijah Tay received notices to attend court on separate dates in relation to multiple charges brought under the repressive Public Order Act (POA) and the Penal Code arising from their peaceful activism.

On 7 September 2026, Mr. Jolovan Wham appeared before the State Court of Singapore, where he was charged under the POA and the Penal Code. Three charges under the POA concerned his participation in candlelight vigils held without permit near Changi Prison on 22 November 2024, 29 November 2024, and 23 January 2025, ahead of the executions of death row prisoners. A fourth charge under the POA concerned his organisation, on 3 February 2025, of a public assembly without a permit in a prohibited area, in relation to an assembly near the State Courts to advocate for the abolition of the death penalty. The fifth charge, brought under Section 179 of the Penal Code, concerned his refusal to answer questions from police during questioning about the vigil conducted on 22 November 2024.

These charges followed five additional charges brought against Mr. Jolovan Wham under the POA on 3 February 2025, in connection with his participation in peaceful candlelight vigils held outside Changi Prison ahead of the executions of prisoners sentenced to death for drug trafficking in 2022 and 2023. Two of these charges were dropped. On 13 May 2026, Mr. Jolovan Wham was convicted on the remaining three offences. He was fined SGD 3,500 (approximately 2,379 Euros) per offence, amounting to SGD 10,500 (approximately 7,135 Euros) in total. Mr. Jolovan Wham is currently appealing his conviction.

On 9 September 2026, Elijah Tay appeared before the State Court, and was charged on nine counts under the POA and the Penal Code. In addition to Elijah Tay, five other women, including one foreign national, were charged under the POA in relation to their organisation and participation in various public assemblies, including those in relation to the situation in Gaza. Four charges against Elijah Tay under the POA concern their participation in public assemblies without a permit, including a gathering to submit letters opposing the Maintenance of Racial Harmony Bill to the Ministry of Home Affairs in June 2024 and vigils for prisoners sentenced to death on 22 and 29 November 2024 and on 23 January 2025. Another charge under the POA concerns their participation in an assembly in a prohibited area without a permit, in relation to gathering near the State Courts on 3 February 2025 to advocate for the abolition of the death penalty. A further charge under the POA concerns the organisation of a memorial event without a permit in January 2025 featuring over 100 pairs of shoes and a white burial shroud in solidarity with Palestinian students killed in Gaza. Elijah Tay also faces two charges under Section 179 of the Penal Code concerning their refusal to answer questions from police about the vigils, as well as a charge under Section 298A of the Penal Code in relation to their pro-Palestine chant during an indoor Palestine-focused event on 2 February 2024, which was deemed by the authorities to be prejudicial to the maintenance of racial harmony that could disturb "public tranquillity."

On 17 September 2026, Mses Kirsten Han and Kokila Annamalai as well as two other individuals were charged under the POA for their participation in a public assembly in a prohibited area. Their charges stemmed from a peaceful gathering on 3 February 2025 outside the State Courts to show support for Mr. Jolovan Wham, who attended a court hearing in relation to the five above-referenced charges brought against him under the POA.

The Observatory recalls that Mr. Jolovan Wham has repeatedly faced judicial proceedings in connection with his peaceful human rights activities. In November 2017, he was charged with three counts of organising public assemblies without a permit, one count of vandalism and three counts of refusing to sign statements, in relation to peaceful gatherings held between November 2016 and July 2017. In January 2019, Mr. Jolovan Wham was also convicted of organising an illegal assembly without permit in relation to a public discussion on civil disobedience and social movements held in November 2016. His conviction and sentence were upheld on appeal in October 2019, when he was fined SGD 3,200 (approximately 2,070 Euros). Moreover, in March 2020, the Court of Appeal upheld a separate conviction and sentence against Mr. Jolovan Wham of SGD 5,000 (approximately 3,290 Euros) for “scandalising the court” over a Facebook post concerning the Singaporean and Malaysian judiciaries.

The Observatory also recalls that the charges against Mr. Jolovan Wham and Elijah Tay took place in a context of extremely limited civic space in Singapore, where human rights defenders and civil society organisations have repeatedly faced restrictions and harassment in relation to the exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. In January 2025, restrictions were imposed on activists from TJC in relation to their online advocacy against the death penalty. In October 2025, Ms. Kokila Annamalai and two other TJC activists, Mses Siti Amirah Binte Mohamed Asrori and Sobikun Nahar, faced judicial harassment in connection with the organisation of a peaceful pro-Palestinian protest.

The Observatory further recalls that the POA remains the legislative cornerstone of Singapore’s repression of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, particularly due to its highly restrictive authorisation regime. The POA requires all individuals who seek to organise a public assembly to give advance notice and apply for permission from the Commissioner of Police no less than 14 working days before the planned event. Under the POA, the Minister of Home Affairs can issue orders that prohibit public assemblies or processions in “any public place” (defined as a “prohibited area”), if it is “in the public interest to do so”. The Commissioner of Police may refuse to grant a permit if there are “reasonable ground[s]” to believe that the proposed assembly may result in “public disorder”, “a public nuisance”, “an obstruction in any public road”, or “feelings of enmity, hatred, ill-will or hostility between different groups in Singapore”. All these broadly defined grounds significantly restrict the exercise of freedom of assembly in Singapore and do not appear to be necessary or proportionate, as required by international standards.

The Observatory is concerned that the multiple criminal proceedings against Mr. Jolovan Wham, Elijah Tay, Ms. Kirsten Han, and Ms. Kokila Annamalai unduly restrict their rights to freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly and contribute to a chilling effect on other human rights defenders in Singapore.

The Observatory calls on the Singaporean authorities to immediately put an end to all acts of judicial harassment against Mr. Jolovan Wham, Elijah Tay, Ms. Kirsten Han, Ms. Kokila Annamalai, and other human rights defenders, and to ensure that they are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities freely.