1. MHA notes that Ms Han has published an online article titled "Alone in a cell." at her blog located at the website http://huihui247.blogspot.sg/. The article contained allegations that Ms Han was mistreated in the State Courts lock-up. These allegations are baseless and false.
2. The Singapore Prisons Service (SPS) has interviewed the relevant officers and reviewed the CCTV footage and documents in relation to Ms Han's custody in the lock-up.
- First, Ms Han was not subjected to a strip search as she had claimed. She was searched by a female officer and had remained clothed for the entire duration.
- Second, her allegation that male officers had walked past while she was being searched is untrue. Ms Han was based in the women's wing of the lock-up, which is not accessible to male officers. A privacy screen is also deployed when a search is in progress.
- Third, the allegation that Malaysian APOs (hired by SPS) had made disparaging comments against Singaporeans is unfounded. In addition, the team overseeing the lock-up consists of Prisons officers supported by both Singaporean and Malaysian APOs.
- Fourth, Ms Han's allegation that detainees were not given toiletries after relieving themselves is also untrue. Upon request, toilet paper is made available to detainees.
- Fifth, Ms Han was provided with lunch during her temporary custody.
3. Ms Han could have raised the issues at any time while she was in custody and the SPS would have looked into it. However, she chose not to do so. Instead, she chose to publish the fabricated, false and misleading accounts on social media.
4. The Ministry of Home Affairs takes all allegations seriously and will investigate them thoroughly. However, we will also vigorously defend our officers from baseless attacks to ensure that the integrity of our law enforcement agencies is not undermined.
