Filipino nurse who disparaged S’poreans charged with sedition
REUTERS file photo
SINGAPORE — The former nurse who was dismissed from Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) for making offensive comments online about Singaporeans and religion has been charged under the Sedition Act.
Ello Ed Mundsel Bello, 28, who is from the Philippines, was arrested and charged in court today (April 7). He faces two charges of promoting feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or classes among the population of Singapore, which is an offence under the Sedition Act. The allegedly seditious comments were made on Facebook on Jan 2.
Bello also faces three charges of providing false information to a public servant. He allegedly told the police on three occasions that he did not make the offending comments on Facebook. He also allegedly told one of the police officers that his Facebook account had been accessed without his permission, resulting in further investigations being carried out. Under the Sedition Act, anyone found guilty of promoting feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or classes could be fined up to S$5,000, or jailed up to three years, or punished with both, for a first offence.
Under the Penal Code, anyone found guilty of knowingly giving false information to a public servant could be jailed up to one year, or fined up to S$5,000, or punished with both.
The offending Facebook comments had gone viral in January, prompting TTSH to launch its own investigations into Bello, who had joined the hospital last October. The hospital then learnt of three other online posts made by Bello last year — two offensive comments on religion made on his Google Plus page and one Facebook comment on Singapore — and sacked him. Bello has been assisting with police investigations over the last three months.
On the time it took for the case to be brought before the court, an Attorney-General’s Chambers spokesperson said that as Bello had made allegedly false claims to the police, time was needed for investigations – which included digital forensic analysis of computing devices – to be completed.
In a statement today, the police said it takes a “stern view of acts that could threaten social harmony in Singapore”. “Any person who posts remarks online that could cause ill-will and hostility between the different races or communities in Singapore will be firmly dealt with in accordance with the law,” they said. Also, the lodging of false police reports ties up “valuable police resources which could have been deployed to deal with other crimes”, they said.
Bello’s passport has been impounded. Bail was set at S$10,000. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AMANDA LEE
