SINGAPORE — Iris Koh filed a Judicial Review (JR) application on 17 April against the Attorney General Chambers (AGC) after the AGC intervened in the appeal of her Magistrate Complaint against Police Officers who mishandled her evidence.
Ms Koh is the founder of Healing the Divide, which she refers to as a medical freedom group and commonly referred to as an anti-vaccination activism group.
Ms Koh had complained that the chain of custody of evidence collected during her arrest on 18 November last year, was compromised as a result of police not resealing her electronic devices after the verification of data was computed.
She had requested an investigation to be carried out for the breach of protocol and expressed her concern that fraudulent evidence could have been planted in her device.
While Ms Koh argued that Section 187(1) and 182 of the Penal Code would apply to the respondents who are officers from the Singapore Police Force, the judge who heard the case disagreed as he was of the view that there is insufficient evidence to prove an offence has been committed.
The court dismissed her complaint as the Magistrate’s Complaint framework is only limited to criminal offences allegedly committed by the respondent named in a Magistrate’s Complaint.
Ms Koh had appealed the Magistrate’s Complaint on the following grounds.
a. The Magistrate erred by dismissing the complaint without complying with s152(1) Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) by failing to either make an inquiry under s151(2)(b)(i) CPC or consider the result of any inquiry under s151(2)(b)(ii) CPC.
b. The Magistrate erred in finding that no credible evidence was provided.
c. The Magistrate erred in finding that the correct place to raise the issues was during the trial of a separate criminal proceeding in which Your Petitioner is the accused.
d. The Magistrate erred by not considering the possibility of proceeding on an amended charge, such as s167 of the Penal Code.
After the acceptance of the appeal by the Court, the AGC informed her on 13 March that they would discontinue her appeal “after considering the merits of the appeal, and whether there was public interest in allowing it to continue.”.
Ms Koh was shocked by their actions and said that the AGC should not have intervened and let the Magistrate Complaint go through its natural appeal process.
Ms Koh wrote on a fundraising page, “This case is not just about me. It’s about something much bigger: the rule of law, and the idea that no individual or authority should be above it. That is why I have decided to take a stand and seek a judicial review of the decision to discontinue my appeal.”
An administrative hearing over her JR application will be heard on 10 May.
In a recent update to her supporters, she expressed her gratitude for reaching the first milestone of S$12,000 to make the Judicial Review submission possible.
She noted that if the JR is filed successfully, a second payment of S$28,000 will be needed for her to seek justice and ensure that the justice system is not compromised, and she calls for more support on the legal fees that she faces in light of her cases.
Ms Koh has been speaking up about the Covid-19 vaccines in Singapore since July 2021.
Last year, she was accused by the Singapore Government of false representations made to the Ministry of Health (MOH) involving Covid-19 vaccination certificates. She was alleged to have committed the offences with general practitioner Jipson Quah and five other people on five occasions in 2021.
The charges relate to making false representations to MOH that individuals were given the Sinopharm vaccine when they had not. Ms Koh was handed five charges of being part of a conspiracy to make false representations and one count of fabricating false evidence.
She is accused of instigating one Tee Hui Yee in November last year to be falsely certified to be of unsound mind.
Ms Koh faces a total of 10 charges, including other charges of making false representations and tearing up her charge sheet.
Her bail was set at S$30,000.
To date, Ms Koh and her husband remains unvaccinated against COVID-19.
For supporters who would like to support Ms Koh’s Judicial Review application against the AGC office. You can send your donations to
PAYNOW: 98291678
POSB Savings: 153704910
PAYPAL: https://bit.ly/iriskohjr
(Ref: Defense)
For more updates on Ms Koh’s matter, visit https://bit.ly/iriskohjr
