Court adjourns decision on anti-vax Iris Koh's request to visit Malaysia for cancer treatment
Iris Koh, founder of anti-vaccine group Healing the Divide, has made an application to go to Malaysia to seek medical treatment for thyroid cancer, the court heard on Friday (June 17).
The judge said her condition did not appear to be life-threatening and called for an adjournment till June 22 before a decision is made, so that information on her treatment can be provided.
The application was made by her lawyer Wee Pan Lee, who said Koh, 46, suffered from cancer and had been recommended by Singapore General Hospital to undergo surgery to remove her thyroid glands to treat it.
Mr Wee said: "Upon receiving the news of cancer, she was devastated. She searched for an alternative to invasive removal of the thyroid glands and seized this chance to go overseas for an alternative."
He provided the names of three medical and therapy centres in Malaysia where Koh planned to seek a second opinion for her treatment.
Mr Wee urged the court to approve the request, adding that the only instance she should not be granted is if there was a likelihood that she would abscond.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Jiang Ke-Yue said he did not wish to stand in the way of Koh's desire for alternative treatment, but questioned the need for such a lengthy period of travel and the nature of the consultations at the centres provided.
Asking for an adjournment, the DPP said: "Where one provides more documents that raise more questions than answers, that itself lends to the inference that there is a potential flight risk.
"We are not saying that there will be, but we need more information to be in a better position to agree to travel. The appropriate cause would be an adjournment."
Agreeing with the prosecution, the judge said: "This condition does not appear to be life-threatening at this point in time based on the submissions I have heard."
Koh's bail was extended and she will return to court on June 22.
She was charged over multiple offences earlier this year.
She is accused of conspiring with general practitioner Jipson Quah to make false representations to the Ministry of Health that unvaccinated people were given the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine, when they were not.
In February, she was also charged over ripping up a printed copy of her statement recorded at a police station. She was granted $20,000 bail at the time.
She had been hospitalised prior to her court hearing on Jan 28, but her condition was not mentioned in court then.
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