A 29-year-old former Singapore Airlines (SIA) pilot, who forwarded a picture of a dead maid which he received from his paramedic girlfriend, was found guilty on Monday, August 26.
The accused Fazli Hisham Mohd Fairuz Shah was charged for two offences under the Official Secrets Act (OSA), which is an Act that prevents the disclosure of official documents and information.
As per the reports, one of the charges is linked to a second related photo of a document taken by his girlfriend Nurizzah Afiqah Hussain, who used to work for private ambulance operator Unistrong Technology, which also outsourced work from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).
When the maid died by hanging herself on February 1, 2017, Fazli's girlfriend was present at the location and shone a torchlight on the woman while an ambulance driver, Shaik Haziq Fahmi Shaik Nasair Johar took a photo of the body with his mobile phone.
After Nurizzah received the picture on group chat, she shared the image with Fazli along with an official document stating "maid hung herself on the fan" and then Fazli again shared the picture in another group which had 31 people.
It became an issue soon after the picture was circulated on Facebook. District Judge Luke Tan said he was satisfied that Fazli would have known that he had obtained the photos in contravention of the OSA or would have reason to believe that the photos were confidential.
On the other hand, during the trial, the accused stated that he shared the photos with no vicious intent and accepted that he obtained them from his girlfriend.
Already the ambulance driver was fined S$1,500 in September 2018 and Nurizzah was fined S$3,000 in August 2018.
As per the Official Secrets Act, Fazli could face a jail term up to two years and fined a maximum of S$2,000. However, he will return to court on September 2 for mitigation and sentencing.
