KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 23 ― Sex bloggers Alvin Tan and Vivian Lee today launched a legal challenge against one of three charges they are facing over a controversial Ramadan greeting they posted on Facebook last month.

The lawyer representing the duo, Chong Joo Tian, said the application to strike out the charge under section 298A of the Penal Code was filed with the High Court here this morning, according to a report by news portal Malaysiakini.

The submission today also caused the Sessions Court, where the duo was initially charged, to delay mention to September 19, pending the disposal of today’s application.

Section 298A includes a variety of offences, namely causing “disharmony, disunity, or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will, or prejudicing, etc, the maintenance of harmony or unity, on grounds of religion.”

The two were charged on July 18 under section 298A, as well as under the Sedition Act and the Film Censorship Act over their post.

They were initially denied bail but won freedom a week later on a bail of RM10,000 for each of the three charges.

Better known as “Alvivi”, a contraction of their two first names, 25-year-old Tan and Lee, 24, had stirred up a hornet’s nest when they posted a mock “Selamat Berbuka Puasa” (breaking of fast) greeting on their Facebook page that showed them eating “bak kut teh”, and describing the soupy pork dish as “wangi, enak, menyelerakan” (fragrant, delicious, appetising).

The picture also included a “halal” logo, although the consumption of pork is forbidden to Muslims.

The couple had first courted controversy over the videos and photographs of their sexual exploits that had been posted on a now-defunct blog.