TOC Editor Terry Xu Wants Lee Hsien Yang & Lee Wei Ling To Enter Lawsuit As 3rd Parties
The Online Citizen (TOC) editor Terry Xu has been in hot water ever since publishing – and then later refusing to take down – the article titled: “PM Lee’s wife, Ho Ching weirdly shares article on cutting ties with family members”.
With PM Lee suing him for defamation, Mr Xu has devised another defence — to bring in PM Lee’s siblings, Mr Lee Hsien Yang (Mr Lee) and Dr Lee Wei Ling (Dr Lee).
Dr Lee (left) and Mr Lee
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Bringing in PM Lee’s siblings as 3rd parties
According to The Straits Times on Tuesday (1 Oct), Mr Xu had applied to bring in the siblings as third parties.
In the application, Mr Xu also said that he wanted both the siblings to “bear the damages” if the defamation suit is successful.
What this also means is that if the application is successful, Mr Xu will be allowed to cross-examine Mr Lee and Dr Lee for more information.
Reiterates that defamatory words aren’t his
In court, Mr Xu continues to argue that all the defamatory information within the article is borrowed from public comments made by Mr Lee and Dr Lee.
Specifically, he referred to comments on the family feud concerning the house at Oxley Road.
Dr Lee had supposedly said in a Facebook post that her late father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, had been misled by PM Lee into thinking that house had been gazetted by the government.
This is likely why Mr Xu believes that he is in no wrong.
PM Lee suing for damages & restraint on Mr Xu
The defamatory suit consists of seeking damages for the injury to PM Lee’s character and reputation, and also a court order to disallow Mr Xu from publishing and disseminating the allegations in TOC’s article.
As far a stretch as it is, we hope both parties will find some common ground and get past the incident without spending enormously and unnecessarily on the legal war-field.
Featured image adapted from Twitter.
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