SINGAPORE, Dec 4 — A district court in Singapore yesterday rejected an application from Iris Koh, founder of the anti-Covid-19 vaccination group Healing the Divide, and her husband Raymond Ng, to compel former Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Calvin Cheng to remove an allegedly defamatory Facebook post.

The post, which was published on June 21, is central to an ongoing civil defamation suit that Koh, Ng, and three other individuals have filed against Cheng.

The other claimants include former Progress Singapore Party politician Bradley Bowyer, Bevan Tey, and Chan Swee Cheong.

Channel News Asia (CNA) reported that District Judge Chiah Kok Khun dismissed the application, which had sought to force Cheng to remove and set to private all social media comments that allegedly suggested the claimants were responsible for "killing people.”

The claimants had also requested an order preventing Cheng from making further defamatory statements.

The court also ruled in Cheng’s favour, granting his request to strike out three of the claimants — Ng, Tey, and Chan — from the suit, stating that their claims were an abuse of the legal process as there was no reference to them in the original post and they lacked legal standing to participate.

"There is no reference to them in the Facebook post, and they have no legal standing to be part of the suit,” the judge said.

Koh and Ng expressed disappointment with the court’s decision, telling CNA that they had not yet reviewed the judge’s full reasoning but would consider an appeal after doing so.

"We are disappointed with the outcome,” Koh and Ng said in response to the ruling.

Cheng, in response to the ruling, highlighted his success on social media and indicated that he would pursue the costs awarded to him.

"I intend to pursue the costs awarded to me to the fullest,” Cheng wrote in a Facebook post.

The defamation suit against Cheng continues, with Koh and Bowyer remaining as the main claimants.

Koh, who faces separate criminal charges related to her anti-vaccine activities, including deceiving the Singapore Health Ministry and instigating harassment of doctors, and Ng have argued that Cheng’s Facebook post falsely implied they had malicious intent to cause death, likening their actions to criminal acts of harm.

"The post portrayed us as malevolent and dangerous individuals with criminal intent to harm others,” Koh and Ng argued.

They contend the post severely damaged their reputations, led to public condemnation, and could have professional consequences.

Koh and Bowyer, both named in the June 21 post, are seeking damages of S$100,000 (RM447,000) each, claiming harm to their reputations and emotional well-being.

The remaining three claimants are seeking unspecified damages.

In addition to damages, the claimants have asked for a public apology and retraction of the statements made in Cheng’s post.

The case remains ongoing in the courts.