Former TRS editor jailed 10 months
Former The Real Singapore (TRS) editor Ai Takagi, who is eight weeks pregnant, was jailed 10 months on Wednesday (March 23) for sedition.
Takagi, 23, an Australian national of Japanese descent, had pleaded guilty on March 8 to four counts of sedition, with four other charges taken into consideration.
Court papers listed her as the chief editor as well as an owner of the now-defunct socio-political website.
She doctored, fabricated and published articles to promote ill will among different classes of people in Singapore - just to attract Internet users to her website.
Among the four offending articles was one where she falsely said a Filipino family caused a commotion between the police and participants at a Thaipusam procession.
Between December 2013 and April 2015, TRS raked in almost $500,000 in advertising revenue.
Authorities shut it down in May 2015, having earlier arrested Takagi and her then-boyfriend, Yang Kaiheng, now her husband.
Yang, 27, who is facing eight similar charges, claimed trial and is expected to be back in court next Monday (March 28).
Get the full story in our print edition (March 24).
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