Ex-pilot found guilty under OSA for sharing photo of dead maid
A former Singapore Airlines (SIA) pilot was found guilty of two offences under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) yesterday after he shared a photograph of a dead maid in a WhatsApp group.
Fazli Hisham Mohd Fairuz Shah, 29, had received the photo from his girlfriend, who was a paramedic with Unistrong Technology, a private ambulance operator.
On Feb 1, 2017, his girlfriend, Nurizzah Afiqah Hussain, 27, who was a paramedic from 2012 to 2017, was at the scene of an incident at a condominium when ambulance driver Shaik Haziq Fahmi Shaik Nasair Johar took a photo of the maid who had hanged herself from a ceiling fan and shared it in a WhatsApp group.
Nurizzah, who was fined $3,000 last August after pleading guilty to two offences under the OSA, sent the photo to Fazli through WhatsApp.
Fazli, who has since left SIA, sent it to a WhatsApp group of his friends and acquaintances.
He also sent a photo of a document that stated "Maid hung (sic) herself on the fan". This had also been sent by Nurizzah.
A member of the chat group forwarded the photos to three other domestic helpers in Singapore, and one of them posted the photos on her Facebook account.
CIRCULATED
The two photos were then circulated on social media and the police were alerted on Feb 3.
In his defence, Fazli claimed he found out Nurizzah was a paramedic only during her testimony. He also claimed he did not know the nature of the photos and forwarded them because he thought it was something interesting to share.
Yesterday, District Judge Luke Tan said Fazli would have been aware that the pictures were obtained by Nurizzah in the course of her work.
Out on bail of $5,000, Fazli is due back in court on Sept 2.
For each charge of the offence, Fazli could be jailed for up to two years and fined up to $2,000.
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