Investigators have questioned a software engineer over allegations that he is responsible for a social media post containing misinformation targeting Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌).
The Executive Yuan yesterday issued a statement explaining the source of a video used in the Facebook post.
The software engineer, a 47-year-old man surnamed Chan (詹), wrote in the post that Su threw a pen after signing a guest book at what Chan claimed was the funeral of railway police officer Lee Cheng-han (李承翰), who was on Wednesday last week fatally stabbed while responding to a disturbance on a train.
Photo: Chiu Chun-fu, Taipei Times
Chan’s post was spread by supporters of Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), causing a furor, the Cabinet said.
Chan, who on Facebook describes himself as “a Han Kuo-yu supporter who cannot be friends with those who ‘walk different paths,’” on Monday reportedly told Criminal Investigation Bureau officials that he “deeply regretted” making the post.
The video in Chan’s post was from a funeral for the mother of one of Su’s friends in Pingtung County, the Cabinet said.
Su said that he threw the pen out of regret and frustration due to the death of his friend’s mother.
Throwing pens at funerals after signing the guest book was a common practice in his hometown when he was young, Su said, adding that the gesture symbolizes hope that “such a regretful thing [the death of someone close] would not happen again.”
Investigators on Monday said that they traced the source of the video to an assistant at a funeral home, who had filmed Su during the ceremony and uploaded the video to Facebook, where it spread.
After coming across the video, Chan allegedly shared it, saying: “This is the funeral of a fallen officer. If you do not want to be there, do not go. What are you throwing things for?”
Investigators did not say whether they believed that Chan had mistaken the context of the video, or whether they believed his post was intentionally misleading.
However, Chan’s post was quickly shared by many people, misleading those who saw it and causing an uproar, they said.
The matter has been transferred to the New Taipei City Police Department, which could file a formal complaint with prosecutors over a contravention of Article 63-5 of the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), the investigators said, adding that if found guilty, Chan could face detention of up to three days and up to NT$30,000 in fines.
Separately yesterday, the Investigation Bureau said that Yan Cheng-yi (顏正義) — who was deputy director of the Kaohsiung branch of the bureau — has been demoted to a nonsupervisory role after it was found that he had shared Chan’s post.
Additional reporting by Chen Yu-fu and CNA
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
MEDICAL: The bills would also upgrade the status of the Ethical Guidelines Governing the Research of Human Embryos and Embryonic Stem Cell Research to law The Executive Yuan yesterday approved two bills to govern regenerative medicine that aim to boost development of the field. Taiwan would reach an important milestone in regenerative medicine development with passage of the regenerative medicine act and the regenerative medicine preparations ordinance, which would allow studies to proceed and treatments to be developed, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) told reporters at a news conference after a Cabinet meeting. Regenerative treatments have been used for several conditions, including cancer — by regenerating blood cells — and restoring joint function in soft tissue, Wang said. The draft legislation requires regenerative treatments
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese