Kirsten Han 韩俐颖
LightNews LightNews
banner
kirstenhan.com
Kirsten Han 韩俐颖
@kirstenhan.com
2.6K followers 410 following 1.1K posts
🇸🇬 Writer and activist. Author of 'The Singapore I Recognise: Essays on home, community and hope'. Editor-in-Chief of @mekongreview.com. Everything Elf at https://wethecitizens.net. Member of @transformjusticesg.bsky.social and @adpan.bsky.social.
Posts Replies Media Videos
kirstenhan.com
One execution has been scheduled for 26 November, and two for 27 November. A vigil will be held in Singapore on the night of the 26th.
November 23, 2025 at 3:35 AM
kirstenhan.com
Despite there being an ongoing constitutional challenge against the mandatory death penalty for drugs, the Singapore government has issued three new execution notices for next week, to three people given mandatory death sentences for drug offences.
November 23, 2025 at 3:28 AM
kirstenhan.com
The Singapore government issued a “Correction Direction” to Malaysian news website MalaysiaNow under the anti-“fake news” law. Failing to comply w/ a Correction Direction is an offence in Singapore.

MalaysiaNow has released a statement essentially telling the Singapore government to fuck off
November 15, 2025 at 8:22 AM
kirstenhan.com
Respecting his wishes would mean flinging a wrecking ball at the house but we will just delulu is the solulu until the national narrative shifts into believing LKY would have welcomed transforming his home into a heritage park
November 3, 2025 at 7:03 AM
kirstenhan.com
A teach-in by the Transformative Justice Collective happening this weekend, covering Singapore's crackdown on pro-Palestine activism.

The livestream link will be shared via this Telegram channel: t.me/sghs4g
October 24, 2025 at 6:46 AM
kirstenhan.com
I don't want to give too much away but the upcoming @mekongreview.com cover (and the whole issue) is absolutely 🔥🔥🔥

So if you haven't subscribed to our magazine yet, you should right now: mekongreview.com/subscribe

We're compiling the mailing list for this issue TODAY so this is your last chance!
October 13, 2025 at 3:25 AM
kirstenhan.com
I lack the motivation to create a long thread out of this, so please just read these screenshots.

And also this celebration of Pannir’s spirit, love, and triumphs: www.wethecitizens.net/goodbye-pann...

Goodbye, Pannir. You’re free now.
Pannir Selvam Pranthaman was executed in the early hours of Wednesday morning, and laid to rest yesterday, on World Day Against the Death Penalty. A couple of days before his execution, his sister Sangkari said he had a message for me. “Pannir said you’re like a lion,” she told me with a smile. “The way you talk even when you get in trouble with the government.” The day before, I’d printed out the newsletter I wrote about his book launch, alongside a few news articles and statements, for him. He’d asked for them; he was curious about the media coverage about him and his book. Sangkari said the prison allowed him everything else, but not my newsletter. There’s a common pain and anger that follows every execution. It comes from disgust at how the authorities behave, from a deep sense of injustice, from the knowledge that the only reason these people are dead is because others with more power and money and opportunity judged them from up high and decided they could be discarded. None of these executions disrupted the drug trade; none of them made Singaporeans safer. Yet we’re forced to swallow the propaganda the state churns out to make us believe that some humans deserved to be sacrificed. For people like Pannir, like Datch, like Syed and Masoud and Roslan—who I’ve known, whose families I’ve befriended for many years—there’s an additional layer of grief and loss. During his final family visit on his last day on earth last November, Roslan told his sister to send his regards and thank me for 10 years of solidarity and support. I am so sorry that, throughout those 10 years, there was so little I could do for him. There are days when it feels like there’ll be no end to the killing, no end to the brutality. When it feels like we Singaporeans will always live in a murderous state. But even during those days when it’s hard to feel anything but exhaustion and defeat, I know that we will ultimately prevail, and one day future generations of Singaporeans will be horrified that executions had ever taken place in our country, that we’d taken this long to get rid of something so blatantly unjust and evil. All of us who see the death penalty regime up close have days when we don’t want to do anything but curl up in bed and escape from this terrible world. Every one of us has to find some way to cope with the pain and trauma we witness when the ones with blood on their hands don’t even have the guts to look these families in the eye. But no matter how tough it is, we will keep going. Pannir, the bravest person I’ve had the privilege to know, thought of me as a lion. I hold on to this courage he saw in me, even when I struggled to see it myself, and keep on. We’ve come so far already. There’s no stopping now. Thank you, Pannir. They took so much from you, but they never took your strength and your spirit. You wrote your own story, and now you’re free. Don’t let the bastards grind you down.
October 11, 2025 at 3:13 AM
kirstenhan.com
Hong Lim Park, the only space in the country where Singaporeans can gather without a permit, is fully booked for the whole week for some reason. But that won’t stop us.

There’ll be four vigils across Singapore tomorrow night: www.wethecitizens.net/vigils-for-p...
October 6, 2025 at 1:34 PM
kirstenhan.com
Reflections from the launch of Death Row Literature, a collection of poetry by Pannir Selvam Pranthaman, a Malaysian national on death row in Singapore: www.wethecitizens.net/death-row-li...
September 29, 2025 at 5:40 PM
kirstenhan.com
Yesterday, at the launch of Death Row Literature, a collection of poetry by Pannir Selvam Pranthaman from death row in Changi Prison.

The launch was made all the more poignant, powerful and heartbreaking by the knowledge that, after Datch’s execution on Thursday, Pannir is next on the list.
September 28, 2025 at 2:33 AM
kirstenhan.com
Is this happening to anyone else on Bluesky? What’s going on?
September 27, 2025 at 3:01 PM
kirstenhan.com
If you would like to contribute, please send your donations via PayNow to the UEN 201025212ETJ8 (Function 8 Limited), or scan the QR code provided in this post. Please remember to add “For Datch” in the reference so we can identify your contributions.
September 24, 2025 at 3:45 AM
kirstenhan.com
I spent Tuesday night at a vigil for Datch in Hong Lim Park. Years ago, Singaporeans could gather outside Changi Prison for vigils for death row prisoners. These days, no matter how small the gathering outside the prison, people will be subject to police investigations and risk criminal prosecution.
September 24, 2025 at 3:45 AM
kirstenhan.com
This morning, the Singapore Prison Service issued Datchinamurthy Kataiah, a Malaysian on death row in Singapore for drug offences, an execution notice. They plan to hang him on Thursday, 25 September.

There’ll be a cross-border press conference tomorrow morning; open to the public to join remotely.
September 21, 2025 at 1:42 PM
kirstenhan.com
“The man was a fascist who spouted racist hate speech and condoned gun violence, but you gotta appreciate how dedicated and effective he was at spreading those ideas around”

what the fuck
September 12, 2025 at 3:37 AM
kirstenhan.com
Singapore and Israel have a close and long-standing connection. In 2019, we marked 50 years of strong ties with a book that goes into how Israel played a key role in building up the Singapore Armed Forces after Singapore's independence in 1965.

www.straitstimes.com/singapore/me...
September 6, 2025 at 7:11 AM
kirstenhan.com
The SG govt says that they're prepared "in principle" to recognise the state of Palestine, but not before Palestine meets conditions that the SG govt recognises they can't meet because of Israel, but the SG govt won't recognise Palestinian statehood now because of potential "counter actions".
September 2, 2025 at 8:23 AM
kirstenhan.com
Today in acronym hell:

I learn that Singapore’s LLM is not actually called MERLION

It’s called MERaLION
August 29, 2025 at 8:25 AM
kirstenhan.com
They have increased the fines for the use of nicotine vapes and “repeat offenders” will even be forced to go to some six-session mandatory rehab

www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/kp...
PENALTIES FOR ABUSERS The new penalties were announced in a press release by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Home Affairs on Thursday. At present, those caught vaping are fined S$300 if they are under 18 years old, and S$500 if 18 and above. This is regardless of whether it is their first or subsequent offence. From Sep 1, first-time offenders under 18 will face an increased fine of S$500, while those 18 and above will be fined S$700. A second offence will require the individual to undergo a three-month rehabilitation programme, consisting of six sessions. Failure to complete the programme will result in prosecution. For a third or subsequent offence, the offender will be prosecuted in court under the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act (TCASA) and may be fined up to S$2,000.
August 28, 2025 at 5:26 PM
kirstenhan.com
August 26, 2025 at 10:36 AM
kirstenhan.com
The Transformative Justice Collective’s statement on the first clemency granted to a death row prisoner since 1998:
TJC feels great relief at the granting of clemency to Tristan Tan Yi Rui, a 33-year-old Singaporean who was sentenced to death in 2023. This good news is all the more remarkable because it is the first time clemency has been granted to a death row prisoner since 1998. The South China Morning Post was the first to report that the Cabinet of Singapore had directed President Tharman Shanmugaratnam to grant clemency in this case. Tristan’s death sentence will now be commuted to life imprisonment. In response to media enquiries, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that the Cabinet decided to advise that President Tharman grant clemency so as to “reduce the disparity in… outcomes” between Tristan’s case and that of another individual arrested as part of the same operation and tried separately. Beyond reading up on Tristan’s case, we are also trying to find out more about the details of this other individual’s case, so as to better understand what prompted the Cabinet’s decision. So far, the government has not identified who this other person is. We hope to be able to share further reflections at a later date. After almost thirty years of rejected clemency appeals by three different Presidents—and more than 250 executions—we are encouraged to see a Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, exercise its power to show mercy to a young man on death row. We are greatly relieved that, today, there is one less person in Changi Prison that the state intends to kill. Tristan will no longer have to fear facing the gallows, but there are more than 40 people still on death row, all of them convicted of drug offences. The last execution—the tenth this year—took place just two days ago, on 13 August 2025. Now that they have broken the 27-year streak of clemency rejections, we hope that the Cabinet will continue to direct President Tharman to commute more death sentences. We also reiterate our call for an immediate moratorium on executions and the use of the death penalty. We breathe a little easier today, knowing that a family has been spared from ever having to receive an execution notice and having a loved one’s life taken by the state. We continue to stand with all the families who still have to live in dread of facing such a horrific ordeal, and to fight for an end to capital punishment so that no one will ever have to go to the gallows again. We call on all our fellow Singaporeans to sign our petition for a moratorium on the death penalty and urge our government to Stop The Killing. Sign the petition at https://change.org/stopthekillingsg
August 16, 2025 at 4:46 AM
kirstenhan.com
STOP STEALING THE EGGPLANTS

www.straitstimes.com/life/arts/eg...
August 1, 2025 at 1:27 PM
kirstenhan.com
What happened to this article on Rice Media...? I did another search under "vape" to see if maybe they'd changed the headline but none of the articles that came up were published this year, much less two days ago, so it seems to really be gone?
July 25, 2025 at 6:04 AM
kirstenhan.com
Days before the Transformative Justice Collective's abolitionist festival is set to open, the Singapore authorities have thrown a spanner in the works. We've had to shift the entire festival to a new venue at short notice.

More info here: www.wethecitizens.net/join-me-for-...
July 15, 2025 at 11:54 AM
kirstenhan.com
I shudder to think of what Xinhua and SPH Media consider to be reporting that will “tell the stories of China, Singapore, Asia and the world, and accurately and objectively reflect the development and changes of the world”.

english.news.cn/20250708/2d6...
July 9, 2025 at 1:17 AM