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Activist Han Hui Hui ejected from Select Committee hearings

Han Hui Hui seen at a 2015 protest in Hong Kong to demand the release of Singaporean teenager Amos Yee. (PHOTO: Reuters)
Han Hui Hui seen at a 2015 protest in Hong Kong to demand the release of Singaporean teenager Amos Yee. (PHOTO: Reuters)

The Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods’ final day of hearings on Thursday (29 March) was temporarily adjourned after political activist Han Hui Hui was physically removed from the chambers in Parliament.

Han was seen holding up an image of the cover of the book “Authoritarian Rule of Law – Legislation, Discourse and Legitimacy in Singapore” in the room while Oxford-trained historian Thum Ping Tjin was delivering his testimony.

The book was written by Jothie Rajah, the first wife of Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam. The minister, who is on the Select Committee, was in the chambers at the time.

Han had her papers taken away by Parliament staff and was told to leave but refused to do so.

She told staffers, “I want to sit here because I want to follow the hearing… What else you want from me? I already give you my papers… What did I do wrong? Can you give me an official paper to say I cannot stay?”

One female member of staff was heard saying, “Either you walk out on your own or I bring you out.”

“I’m not going,” replied Han, who was then physically lifted out of the chambers by three women. She was then kept in a holding room for more than an hour before being escorted out by half a dozen officials into another room.

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