Amos Yee has been sentenced to four weeks
imprisonment, for charges relating to creating a video criticizing
Lee Kuan Yew.
He will serve one week for posting obscene
materials and three weeks for wounding the religious feelings of
Christian in his video calling Lee Kuan Yew a “horrible person”,
and the sentenced is to be served consecutively.
The sentence has also been backdated from 2 June, which
means Yee technically goes free today.
Yee also has to go for mandatory counselling, which the
teenager has agreed to.
Yee’s medical report said that he does not
suffer from any mental disorders, but instead needs mentoring.
Amos has agreed to counselling and mentoring from a doctor at
Raffles Hospital.
TOC understands that Yee had instructed his lawyer
Alfred Dodwell to lodge an appeal to claim that he had not
wounded religious feelings or distributed obscene image in the
first place.
The Prosecution had decided not to press for
reformative training, which will see Yee instituted for at least 18
months, and go for a jail term because of what was described as a
“seismic shift” in attitude on Yee’s part.
It was noted that Yee has voluntarily removed the
material and signed an undertaking to not post on sensitive issues
anymore. “Amos has admitted to his guilt and promised not to
re-offend”, said the Prosecution, because he understands issues of
law and racial harmony.
Nevertheless, “it is critical to again reiterate that
this case is not about freedom of speech or diversity of
views”, but about the abuse of these freedoms.
The Prosecution also said that Yee was the one who
had chosen the path that led to his time in remand because he
breached bail conditions and rejected probation.
Yee’s trial has attracted international attention, with
protests held in Singapore’s Hong Lim Park, Hong Kong, Taiwan and
Malaysia’s Penang calling for the Singapore government to free
him.
International human rights organisations have also
labeled Yee a prisoner of conscience.
Yee has thus far served a total of more than 50 days in
remand, either at Changi Prison or the Institute of Mental Health
for psychiatric assessment.
The Online Citizen understands that he was sent to
the Accident & Emergency department of Changi Hospital on
Sunday night, but has since returned to IMH today morning.
No reason has been given, but TOC understand from his
mother that Yee’s blood glucose level has dropped, he had been
feeling giddy and depressed, and had not been eating or sleeping
well.
In the course of his trial, various human rights groups
have called for his release in respect to the rights of a
child.
“The Singapore government has demonstrated a shameful
disregard for freedom of expression and the rights of the child in
the way it has treated Amos Yee,” said Phil Robertson, Deputy
Director of the Asia Division at Human Rights Watch, earlier today.
“By holding him in remand and other forms of detention for over 50
days, the authorities have seriously abused his rights for simply
voicing political opinions not popular with the government – and
calling this a “crime” when his actions should never have been
criminalized in the first place.”
“If Amos Yee is sentenced to additional time in a
prison or reform training center, this will be yet another
incredible injustice to him and mark a further decline in
Singapore’s already poor record of respecting free expression. The
powers that be in Singapore should recognize that justice can only
be served by immediately and unconditionally releasing Amos
Yee.”
