After months of local and worldwide media attention, controversies, debates and over 50 days spent in remand, outspoken teen blogger Amos Yee walks free today.
In court this afternoon, Yee was sentenced to four weeks in prison for two charges — wounding religious feelings in an expletive-laden video comparing Lee Kuan Yew to Jesus, and circulating an obscene cartoon of the former prime minister, who died in March.
Yee’s sentence was backdated to June 2.
Since he already served more than a month in jail, he should be free to walk out of the State Courts.
Yee received a one-week sentence for the publication of obscene material, and another three weeks for making offensive remarks against Christianity.
According to various media reports, however, he intends to appeal against both convictions and sentencing.
During the court hearings, the teenager had insisted on sticking to a jail term sentence instead of probation or a stint in the Reformative Training Centre.
The last two weeks saw him in remand at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) to assess his suitability for a mandatory treatment order after he was diagnosed with autism-spectrum disorder.
The stretch in IMH did not bode well for Yee, who was warded in Changi General Hospital last night after his blood sugar went down following days of not eating and sleeping well.
The past week also saw protests and rallies in Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan calling for the release of the teenager. Yee has indeed been released, but probably not in their preferred terms.
Many have insisted that he should not have been charged or convicted in the first place just for speaking his mind.
Photo: Amos Yee Facebook page
