Amos Yee is still awaiting a trial date for his appeal against his conviction and sentence.
In the meantime, here’s something for Singapore’s young and reckless blogger to think about, care of District Judge Jasvender Kaur, who sentenced the 16-year-old on Jul 20 to a retroactive three weeks’ jail term.
“Apart from the fact that the accused was a young offender with no prior record, there was precious little that could be said in his favour,” wrote Judge Kaur in her grounds of decision and which was posted on the website of Yee’s lawyer Alfred Dodwell.
The judge points out that Yee did not apologise for his actions and refused to take down the video after his arrest.
“After being convicted on May 12, he removed the video as ordered. But within two weeks, he published it again, the judge said,” reports The Straits Times,
That’s contemptuous defiance, said the judge.
Three charges had been brought against Yee in March for making offensive remarks against Christianity in an anti-Lee Kuan Yew rant (he alleges both Lee and Jesus Christ as “deceiving” as well as “power-hungry and malicious”).
He had uploaded a video on his YouTube channel, which went viral across the Internet days before the late statesman’s State Funeral procession.
Yee was found guilty of both charges he faced — circulating an obscene image online and hurting religious feelings of Christians.
The third charge he faced in relation to harassment has been dropped by the prosecution.
Photo: Amos Yee Facebook Page
