{
  "id": 12542920,
  "title": "Activist Kokila Annamalai contests charge of allegedly defying POFMA order in first such trial",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/07/activist-kokila-annamalai-contests-charge-of-allegedly-defying-pofma-12542920",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-07T04:11:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "CNA - Singapore",
    "slug": "cna-singapore",
    "url": "https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/kokila-annamalai-pofma-correction-direction-trial-6438196"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Singapore activist Kokila Annamalai faced trial on October 7, 2024, for allegedly defying a Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) correction direction. Annamalai posted on social media in October 2024, criticizing the drug trafficking trial of a man on death row. The POFMA Office alleged that she made two false statements in her posts: that the government arbitrarily decides execution schedules and does not bear the legal burden of proving drug trafficking charges. Annamalai, 38, faces a second charge under the Public Order Act for participating in an assembly advocating for the abolition of capital punishment. Her defense argued that POFMA does not apply to facts and opinions, and the correction notice exceeds its powers. The prosecution maintained that Annamalai knew about the correction direction and available challenges but chose to ignore them. The trial began with the prosecution's opening address, with Deputy Public Prosecutors Timotheus Koh and Stephanie Koh asserting that Annamalai's defiance was a deliberate non-compliance.",
  "summary": "Activist Kokila Annamalai has gone on trial for allegedly defying a correction direction issued under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA). According to the POFMA Office, Annamalai made two false statements in social media posts about a drug trafficker on death row in October 2024. The statements claimed that the government arbitrarily schedules and stays executions without due process, and that the state does not bear the legal burden of proving a drug trafficking charge.\n\nAnnamalai received a correction direction from the POFMA Office, which was issued on the instruction of then Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam. Instead of complying, she put up an article titled \"I Defy: Why I am not complying with my POFMA Correction Direction\". This act led to her trial, which marks the first of its kind under POFMA since it became law in 2019.\n\nAnnamalai, a 38-year-old Singaporean woman, also faces another charge under the Public Order Act for taking part in an assembly publicising the cause of abolishing capital punishment in Singapore, although this charge has been stood down for now.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Channel News Asia",
        "title": "Activist Kokila Annamalai contests charge of allegedly defying POFMA order in first such trial",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/07/activist-kokila-annamalai-contests-charge-of-allegedly-defying-pofma",
        "published": "2026-10-07T04:11:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}