Amos Yee

Calling the four-week jail sentence a "dark day for freedom of expression" in Singapore, Amnesty International charges that the sentence violates the right to freedom of expression and should be quashed. Rupert Abbott, South East Asia and the Pacific Deputy Director said that "Amos Yee is not a criminal. He should never have been charged, let alone convicted. He has been punished solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression." He added that "if there is any justice Amos Yee would be walking free from court without a conviction against his name." The Online Citizen calls the conviction "wrong" and describes the sentence as "manifestly excessive". Writer and gender equality activist Jolene Tan accused the prosecution for "[focusing] overwhelmingly on Amos’ attitudes rather than any harm that was done by his supposed crimes." She questioned the motive of the sentence, asking whether it was "justice for a crime", or "just as a way to quash Amos into docility.” The Association of Women for Action and Research criticised the court decision and urged the state to be mindful of the "stigmatising effect of such prosecutions in the future".

In September 2019, Yee stated in an interview that he had been busy creating pro-paedophile videos.

In April 2018, the Toy Industry Association pulled ads from YouTube following a CNN report its ads had been appearing on Yee's channel, which was being used to promote pedophilia. YouTube subsequently pulled all ads from Yee's videos and banned him from monetizing content. In early May 2018, YouTube terminated Yee's channel for violating community guidelines. In July 2018, Yee's Patreon account was shut down.

In December 2018, Yee's Facebook and Twitter pages were shut down, as well his WordPress blog, where he had continued to express pro-pedophilia views. Yee also managed a pro-pedophile Discord server entitled the "Ball Pit", which was shut down in December 2018.

In November 2017, received death threats for allegedly supporting pedophilia in videos and blog posts. In May 2018, Yee's channel was removed by YouTube for violating community guidelines and Twitter suspended his account. In July 2018, Yee's Patreon account was shut down. As of December 2018, Yee's WordPress blog, personal Facebook page, and pro-pedophile Discord server entitled the "Ball Pit" were shut down.

On 25 April 2017, the U.S. government appealed against the decision to grant Yee asylum, so he continued to be held at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) center during the appeal process. On his reasons for seeking U.S. asylum, Reuters reported that although Yee was highly critical of the U.S. government abroad, he has said that - "It is not going to the best country. This is about going to the country that most effectively promotes my political philosophy of anarchical communism and ending private property and wage labor".

Amos Yee was released from a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in downtown Chicago on 26 September 2017 following an immigration appeals court's decision to uphold his bid for asylum. A Board of Immigration Appeals decision upheld Chicago immigration judge Samuel Cole's March ruling that Yee had a "well-founded fear" of being persecuted upon return to Singapore. The judge said the aim of jailing Yee in Singapore at such a young age was to stifle his political speech. With asylum status, Yee will be eligible to apply for a green card in a year.

In November 2017, Yee uploaded three videos to YouTube, entitled Why Pedophilia Is Alright, Don’t Discriminate Pedophiles, and Free Speech for the Pedophile. Yee had been previously invited to give a speech at Harvard College by The Open Campus Initiative, a student club, but his invitation was rescinded 24 hours before the event. Out of money, Yee asked for donations from his followers via Facebook, stating he would rather borrow than take a job he did not like. Shortly after his appeal for donations, he was banned from Facebook for 30 days for violating Facebook's community standards. Twitter also suspended his account.

In December 2016, Yee fled to the United States just before his call-up for National Service, immediately seeking political asylum. It was granted in March 2017 by the Chicago immigration court, despite being opposed by the U.S. government, which appealed the decision, causing Yee to be held in detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the appeal process. Following an immigration appeals court's decision to uphold his bid for asylum, Yee was released in September 2017.

On 13 May 2016, it was reported in the Straits Times that Yee was arrested on 11 May for allegedly uttering words last November with a deliberate intent to wound religious or racial feelings and for not showing up at a police station. He was subsequently bailed.

On 17 August 2016, Yee stood trial over six charges for deliberate intent to wound religious feelings and two charges for failure to turn up for police interviews. He was not represented by a lawyer. Seven police officers were summoned as prosection's witnesses. Before the trial could proceed further, Yee was granted permission to go for Criminal Case Resolution process.

On 29 September 2016, Amos Yee was sentenced to 6 weeks' jail and fined $2000 for wounding religious feelings. The presiding judge, Ong Hian Sun, said that Yee had "deliberately elected to do harm" in a photograph and two videos he posted online that were said to have "offensive and insulting words and profane gestures to hurt the feelings of Christians and Muslims". Ong said that Yee's actions could "generate social unrest" and should not be condoned.

Yee began serving his jail term on 13 October 2016. He spent 21 days at Tanah Merah Prison. His request for home detention was successful, so he served the remainder of his jail term at home. During this time, a Singaporean activist based in the United States, Melissa Chen (formerly Chin) visited him and, by her own admission, handed him documents to facilitate his escape to the US.

On 16 December 2016, Amos Yee fled to the United States where he was detained at Chicago's O'Hare Airport after announcing his intention to seek political asylum. During the application, he was incarcerated in McHenry County Jail in Illinois. He was subsequently transferred to Dodge County Detention Facility in Wisconsin. Yee was granted asylum in the US on 24 March 2017, after the judge ruled that Yee faced persecution in Singapore for his political opinions; the judge cited the different ways that Cheng and Yee were treated in his decision.

Yee was due to serve his national service upon reaching 18 years old in October 2016. By leaving Singapore, Yee breached Singaporean law which mandates compulsory military service for all Singaporean men.

In late March 2015, shortly after the death of the first Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, Yee uploaded a video on YouTube criticizing Lee. In the video, Yee compared Lee to Jesus, and cast both in what was considered an obscene and disrespectful light. Yee also uploaded to his blog an image depicting Lee and Margaret Thatcher engaged in anal sex. Altogether, 32 police reports were made against Yee and he was arrested in Singapore and charged with "intention of wounding the religious feelings of Christians", obscenity, and "threatening, abusive or insulting communication."

Yee's trial drew significant public interest and the court found him guilty in May 2015, meting a jail sentence of four weeks which was backdated to include 53 days served in remand, freeing Yee immediately following the trial. Yee appealed against both the court conviction and sentence. Yee's imprisonment drew criticism from human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, which considered Yee to be a “prisoner of conscience.”

According to The New York Times, prior to his 2015 Lee Kuan Yew video, Yee had uploaded "more than a dozen comedic riffs ... on subjects including Singapore's legal ban on homosexuality, The Hunger Games, Valentine's Day, Boyhood and the decision to drop out of school 'to pursue my "career" as a 17-year-old boy ranting in front of a video camera'." Nathan Heller of The New Yorker also noted in 2015 that Yee had been publishing homemade videos which were "directed equally toward the Singaporean youth and a more international, American-style audience".

On 23 March 2015, Lee Kuan Yew, the first Prime Minister of Singapore, died of severe pneumonia in hospital. Five days later, Yee uploaded a nearly nine-minute long video to YouTube titled Lee Kuan Yew is Finally Dead! In the expletive-laden video, Yee likened Lee to Jesus, saying that both were "power-hungry and malicious but deceive others into thinking they are both compassionate and kind. Their impact and legacy will ultimately not last as more and more people find out that they are full of bull". Yee went on to describe Lee's followers as "completely delusional and ignorant" with "absolutely no sound logic or knowledge about him that is grounded in reality", while accusing Christians of a similar lack of knowledge of the Bible's teachings. Apart from conveying his hope that the late Lee would not rest in peace, Yee also said that Lee was a "horrible person", an "awful leader" and "a dictator but managed to fool most of the world to think he was democratic". Lastly, Yee issued a challenge to Lee's son, Lee Hsien Loong, stating that if the younger Lee, the current Prime Minister, wished to sue him, Yee would "oblige to dance with him". The 2015 video has since been viewed more than 1 million times.

The Straits Times reported that Yee "was largely slammed by netizens over the video, although some defended his right to his opinion", while BBC News reported that the video drew a "visceral response from Singaporeans". The 2015 video resulted in several violent and threatening remarks being made against Yee online, including rape threats, which led to calls by the Media Literacy Council and the Singapore Kindness Movement urging netizens to act responsibly and civilly, even when facing views they find offensive.

Thirty-two police reports were made against Yee's uploading of the 2015 video, while another police report was made against alleged obscene material on Yee's blog, where Yee had displayed and claimed credit for making a caricature "of Lee Kuan Yew engaging in anal sex with former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher". The Straits Times reported that Yee's mother had filed a police report against her son because she was unable to control his behaviour. Yee's mother, Mary Toh, later told The Online Citizen that she had filed a police report on 29 March, "not ... to have my son arrested", but in response to Yee publishing a vulgar image online despite her objections, leading her to fear for his safety. As she assumed that police action would soon be taken against her son, she filed a report in which she apologised to the nation for her son's actions and requested counselling for Yee. This was later reported by Today, which added that on 5 May Yee's mother told the police that she no longer wanted to provide a statement.

On 31 March three charges were read out to Yee in the State Courts of Singapore, two of which were related to the 2015 video. The first charge was that Yee's 2015 video violated Section 298 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224, as it "contained remarks against Christianity, with the deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of Christians in general". The second charge was under Section 4 of the Protection from Harassment Act (later withdrawn) was that Yee's 2015 video violated the Protection from Harassment Act 2014 as it "contained remarks about Mr Lee Kuan Yew which was intended to be heard and seen by persons likely to be distressed". The third charge was that Yee had violated Section 292 of the Penal Code, by uploading an obscene image of Lee and Thatcher on 28 March 2015. BBC News reported that "Singapore's hate speech laws are intended to ensure harmony between its multi-ethnic population and prevent a recurrence of the racial violence of its early years."

Yee was initially released on bail set at 20,000 Singapore dollars on 31 March 2015 on the condition that he not comment or distribute any content online while the case was still ongoing. Meanwhile, Yee's father, whom Yee describes as being physically abusive, addressed Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, saying that he was "very sorry". On 3 April, Yee's mother brought him to the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) to see a psychiatrist to understand why he seemed "too daring" and feared nothing, but Yee quit after two sessions. Today reported that this was because Amos refused to continue the sessions at IMH, but this was contradicted by former bailor Vincent Law, who later told The Online Citizen that Yee could not attend the third IMH session because it had clashed with the day of his bail review hearing, and that Yee had unsuccessfully asked the institute to bring the session forward.

On 14 April Yee flouted his initial bail conditions by asking for public donations to fund his legal fees on both on his blog and Facebook page; the blog post also linked to his controversial 2015 video and image. At 17 April pre-trial conference, Yee's police bail was converted to court bail of the same amount, while anyone, and not just his parents, was now allowed to post bail. Yee was taken into remand in Changi Prison for the duration of 17 to 21 April 2015 because no one in that time period posted bail, despite the bail amount only needing to be pledged instead of being physically deposited. On 21 April, Yee was bailed out by 51-year-old Vincent Law, a family and youth counsellor and a Christian parent, despite Law having never met Yee before. Three lawyers, Alfred Dodwell, Chong Jia Hao and Ervin Tan, also volunteered to represent him pro bono.

On 30 April 2015, while en route to the state courts for a pre-trial conference, Yee was slapped in the face by 49-year-old Neo Gim Huah who ran away after challenging Yee to sue him. Neo was arrested at 2 am the next day, less than 12 hours after the attack. Neo admitted that he committed the assault as he had taken offence at portions of Yee's video, which he felt were disrespectful to Lee Kuan Yew. He said that he closely monitored the case and had the intention to confront and slap Yee before his first two court appearances as he felt that Yee's actions had put Singapore in a negative light. Neo believed that it would be difficult for the criminal justice system to deal effectively with Yee because of Yee's age, and hence decided to "instill fear" in Yee. Neo admitted that he wanted the assault to be publicised "so that the world at large would know that the victim was being taught a lesson", and so he committed the assault in the presence of the media.

Yee was tried as an adult on 7–8 May 2015, with Yee pleading not guilty to both charges. The timeline was pushed for by Yee's lawyers so that Yee would not "spend more time in remand than necessary". The case has attracted much public interest, with more than 20 people seen outside Court 7 more than an hour before the hearing was supposed to start. When Yee was led into the courtroom in handcuffs and leg shackles, several members of the public who were present waved at him, and he smiled at them. Amongst those who attended the trial were both of Yee's parents, Yee's former bailor, Vincent Law, blogger Roy Ngerng, as well as social activists Andrew Loh and Teo Soh Lung. Law, who said he never changed his mind about bailing him out, said that he came to support Yee and hopes he gets a good trial. The prosecution comprises DPPs Hay Hung Chun, Hon Yi and Kelvin Kow. The Defence comprises Alfred Dodwell and Chong Jia Hao from Dodwell & Co LLC and Ervin Tan from Michael Hwang Chambers LLC. The proceedings were presided over by District Judge Jasvendar Kaur.

The court found Yee guilty and convicted him of both charges on 12 May 2015. With regards to the obscenity charge, judge Jasvender Kaur said that "standards of obscenity will change from time to time", and differ among countries, and that "it was up to the courts to decide based on community standards." Kaur considered the effect that image had on teenagers, and concluded that it met the "strongest possible disapproval and condemnation". With regards to the second charge on making remarks intending to hurt the feelings of Christians, Kaur said that Yee's remarks were "clearly derogatory and offensive to Christians".

On 13 May 2015, a day after being released, Yee took to Facebook alleging that he had been molested by his ex-bailor Law. Law said the allegation was "false". Yee invited the media to "catch" him at an MRT station, but he did not show up. Yee later revealed that his allegations were part of a ploy to "manipulate the press to indulge in the thoroughly exhausting experience of waiting in Pasir Panjang fruitlessly for several hours". Yee also revealed that Law "didn't really molest" him, but maintained that Law was "creepy" In response to the allegations, Law told The Online Citizen (TOC) that "he found Yee's clarification to be insincere and that it does not fully absolve him from the allegation of molest", said that he would "take legal action" for defamation if Yee does not apologise publicly and fully retract the allegation.

On 27 May 2015, Yee was called back to court for an urgent hearing as he refused to meet with his assigned probation officer. The prosecution called for a report to assess Yee's suitability for reformative training, arguing that a jail term or a fine would have no rehabilitative effect. On 2 June Yee was remanded for three weeks and a report was made to assess whether Yee was suitable to serve reformative training. For this remand period, no bail option was offered. This decision came after Yee rejected the option of probation and instead pleaded for a jail term. The prosecution has argued that Yee's re-uploading of the image and video pertaining to his charges should be taken into account as an indication of his conduct and character.

On 23 June 2015 district judge Kaur ordered that Yee be remanded at the Institute of Mental Health for two weeks in response to a report by Dr Munidasa Winslow who said that Yee may have autism spectrum disorder. A psychiatrist concluded that Yee does not suffer from any mental disorder, and would benefit from having a counsellor or mentor guide him in using the Internet.

On 5 July 2015, night before Yee's next hearing was scheduled to be held, Yee was admitted to the Accident and Emergency department at Changi Hospital for low blood glucose levels. According to his mother, Yee had not been eating for several days, was not sleeping well and feeling depressed. Earlier, on 12 June Yee's lawyer reported that Yee had been experiencing suicidal thoughts at the prospect of reformative training. While Yee had been initially "very courteous and engaged in the process", his stint at the Institute for Mental Health had been "a shock to his system".

Yee's sentence led to protests from several activist groups. On 27 June 2015 about sixty people under the banner of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights demonstrated outside the Singapore Trade Office in Taipei. The protesters from more than 10 civil society groups under the banner of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR) held placards and chanted "Free Amos Yee" for about half an hour.

Yee filed an appeal against the conviction and sentence, ahead of 20 July 2015 deadline for making an appeal. Yee's lawyer, Dodwell, said that "whether this was a crime or not still remains a question [that they wanted to] determine in the high court". Yee's mother said that she wanted "to know for sure that what Amos has done is not criminally wrong". For the hearing at the High Court, Yee's lawyers want the appeal to be heard by a non-Christian judge.

In his post on 27 November 2015, Amos addressed Calvin Cheng's comments on killing the children of terrorist members. He wrote, "Oh yes and **** Islam, and Allah doesn’t exist, but say you see a prick from ISIS who wants to kill or has even killed before, don't think that's a scenario where it's alright to kill him." His statement prompted several police reports from the public, and subsequent police investigation in December 2015 for allegedly posting offensive material on his blog.

Yee, who was raised Catholic, and began attending Mass independently of his family, considered himself a practicing Catholic, but in 2013 he was reportedly "kicked out" of service as an altar boy after swearing during a meeting. After meeting with a priest to question his confirmation, and studying skeptical websites and videos, he became an atheist.

Yee was arrested on 29 March, on the grounds of "deliberate intention of wounding the religious or racial feelings", "threatening, abusive or insulting communication" and obscenity. His arrest drew international media attention. BBC News reported that "Yee was one of several people who went online to publicly criticise Mr Lee's legacy – others include human rights activists and a prominent poet – but he is the only one to have been arrested". The Guardian wrote that "For some, the lodging of police reports and subsequent arrest of Yee is a sign that the suppression of free speech during Lee's time in power has continued as a part of governance in Singapore." Nathan Heller of The New Yorker wrote that "Yee's arrest doesn't just underscore his complaints about Singapore's backwardness on rights and freedom. It shows the country's dire need for cultural education through intelligent dissent." Ben Mathis-Lilley of Slate said that "details of the situation are ridiculous ... If you watch the YouTube video, it becomes clear that Amos Yee is probably not an armed insurrectionist", while further labelling the Singaporeans who reported Yee to the police as "narcs".

Yee's sentence was also met with criticism from the Humans Rights Watch, which said that "nothing that Amos Yee said or posted should ever have been considered criminal – much less merit incarceration". Singaporean politician Goh Meng Seng said that even though he did not like Amos "because he's rude in the Singapore context", he felt that "he [had] to defend his rights." Singaporean academic Cherian George, lawyer Peter Low, a former president of the Law Society of Singapore, as well as leading rights activists, academics, filmmakers and members of the arts community signed a letter saying that they were "troubled by the State’s harsh reactions and that "sending Yee to the facility could deter young people in the city-state from expressing their views openly for fear of reprisals.

In January 2012, Yee was widely criticized by netizens for uploading a video to YouTube which – according to My Paper – "called the Chinese New Year a rip-off of the Western New Year's Day". Garnering over 150,000 views, Yee later clarified that the video was satirical in nature. The New Paper described Yee as "mocking the origins of the zodiac and joking about how children should be given a one-month holiday for Chinese New Year" in the video. Within the video, Yee had also said that it was his "fake representation" of Chinese New Year.

In March 2011, Yee won awards for Best Short Film and Best Actor at The New Paper's First Film Fest (FFF) for his film Jan. The New Paper described Yee as having taken on four different acting roles in his "self-written, self-directed film", which was described as a "twisted dark comedy" in which a boy tries to persuade his three friends to help a cancer-stricken girl. Yee, thirteen at the time, was described as having made the film "in his bedroom". The FFF awarded Yee a video camera and video editing software.

Amos Yee Pang Sang (Chinese: 余澎杉 ; pinyin: Yú Péngshān ; Wade–Giles: Yü P'eng Shan ; Jyutping: jyu4 paang1 saam1 , born 31 October 1998) is a Singaporean blogger, former YouTube personality and former child actor.

Amos Yee (余澎杉) was born on 31 October 1998, in Singapore, the only child of Alphonsus Yee, a computer engineer, and Mary Toh Ai Buay, a mathematics teacher. Yee was raised in Singapore as part of an ethnically Chinese family.