Man arrested for allegedly inciting violence against officers in incident

SINGAPORE — A 40-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday (March 2) for allegedly urging people over Facebook to kill the police officers who sought out Benjamin Lim for questioning at his school. 

The man, a Singaporean, is alleged to have published a post on Facebook that included the comment: “Please reveal the identity of the 5 plain clothes officers and we go handle them ourselves. Kill them.”
Benjamin, 14, was found dead hours after he returned home from being questioned by the police on Jan 26 for allegedly molesting a girl. 

His death prompted an outcry over the handling of youth arrests by the police and schools, and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam and Acting Education Minister (Schools) Ng Chee Meng delivered ministerial statements in Parliament on Tuesday addressing concerns. 

In a press release on Wednesday, the police said a report about the post was filed on Feb 8. After establishing the identity of the Facebook user believed to have posted the comment, they arrested the man for the offence of communicating an electronic record containing incitements to violence, under Section 267C of the Penal Code, Chapter 224. Investigations are ongoing. If charged and convicted, the man could be jailed up to five years, fined, or both.

Correction: In and earlier version of this story, we had reported that the man who allegedly made the Facebook post inciting violence in the Benjamin Lim case had been arrested and charged. This is incorrect. The man has not been charged. We are sorry for the error.