Amos Yee

Amos Yee
余澎杉
Born
Amos Yee Pang Sang

(1998-10-31) 31 October 1998 (age 26)[8][9]
Singapore
Criminal statusRearrested after parole violation
Conviction(s)Singapore:
  • Intention of wounding the religious feelings of Christians
  • Intention of wounding the religious feelings of Muslims
  • Obscenity
  • Threatening, abusive or insulting communication[1][2]

United States:

Criminal penaltySingapore:
  • 4 weeks' imprisonment (2015)[4][5]
  • 6 weeks' imprisonment, $4,000 fine (2016)[6]

United States:

  • 6 years' imprisonment (2021)[3]
Imprisoned atDanville Correctional Center
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese余澎杉
Simplified Chinese余澎杉
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyinyú péng shān
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutpingjyu4 paang1 saam1

Amos Yee Pang Sang (Chinese: 余澎杉; pinyin: Yú Péngshān, born 31 October 1998)[a] is a Singaporean convicted sex offender and former blogger, YouTuber, and child actor.

In late March 2015, shortly after the death of former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, Yee uploaded a video on YouTube criticising him.[10] In the video, Yee negatively compared Lee to Jesus Christ. A subsequent 32 police reports resulted in Yee being 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.[11] The court found him guilty in May 2015,[12] meting a jail sentence of four weeks[4][5] which was backdated to include 53 days served in remand, freeing Yee immediately following the trial.[13] His imprisonment drew criticism from human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, which considered Yee to be a "prisoner of conscience".[14][15] Yee appealed against both the court conviction and sentence.[16]

In August 2016, Yee was arrested again, facing six charges for deliberate intent to wound religious feelings and two charges for failure to turn up for police interviews.[1] In September 2016, Yee was sentenced to 6 weeks' jail and fined $2,000 for wounding religious feelings, under Section 298 of the Penal Code. The presiding judge said that Yee's actions could "generate social unrest" and should not be condoned. Yee began serving his jail term on 13 October 2016.[6] 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,[17] despite being opposed by the U.S. federal government, which appealed the decision, causing Yee to be held in detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the appeal process.[18] Following an immigration appeals court's decision to uphold his bid for asylum, Yee was released in September 2017.[19]

In November 2017, Yee received death threats for supporting pedophilia in videos and blog posts.[20] In May 2018, his YouTube channel was removed for violating community guidelines,[21] Twitter suspended his account,[22] and his Patreon account was shut down two months later.[23] As of December 2018, Yee's WordPress blog and personal Facebook page[24] were shut down. In October 2020, Yee was arrested in Illinois on charges of solicitation in a case involving a 14-year-old, and possession of child pornography;[25][26] he eventually pled guilty to two charges of child grooming and child pornography in exchange for a sentence of six years in prison, which he began serving in December 2021 at the Illinois River Correctional Center.[3][27] He was released on parole on 7 October 2023,[28] but was rearrested for violating parole conditions a month later, and was transferred to the Stateville Correctional Centre.[29] In December 2023, he was transferred again to Danville Correctional Center.[30]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference 2016 arrest was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference CNAcharged was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c d Yong, Charissa (3 December 2021). "S'porean blogger Amos Yee sentenced to six years in jail in US for child pornography, grooming". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 7 April 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Singapore court frees 16-year-old blogger Amos Yee - CNN.com". CNN. Archived from the original on 7 July 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  5. ^ a b Ramzy, Austin (6 July 2015). "Singapore Frees Amos Yee, 16, Blogger Who Criticized Lee Kuan Yew". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 7 July 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  6. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference 2016 conviction was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "Amos Yee looks drastically different in new photos from US prison - Singapore News". The Independent Singapore News. 25 March 2023. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference beyondcontrol was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Yee, Amos. "About Amos Yee". Facebook. Archived from the original on 27 March 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference 20150330guardian was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ "Amos Yee pleads not guilty to both charges". Archived from the original on 12 May 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  12. ^ Hussain, Amir (12 May 2015). "Teenage blogger Amos Yee out on bail". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 15 May 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  13. ^ "Amos Yee given 4-week backdated jail term; blogger is 'remorseful', says lawyer". Archived from the original on 8 July 2015. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference NYT March 2015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ "Singapore teen in anti-Lee video walks free after jail sentence backdated". ABC News. 6 July 2015. Archived from the original on 15 September 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  16. ^ Alice Chia (22 August 2015). "Amos Yee files appeal against conviction and sentence". Channel NewsAsia. Archived from the original on 10 November 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  17. ^ "US judge grants Amos Yee's asylum request". The Straits Times. 25 March 2017. Archived from the original on 25 March 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  18. ^ paulam@st (26 April 2017). "Amos Yee faces more time in detention as US government appeals asylum decision". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 27 April 2017. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  19. ^ "Singapore blogger granted asylum released from custody in Chicago". Chicago Tribune. 26 September 2017. Archived from the original on 26 September 2017. Retrieved 26 September 2017.
  20. ^ "Amos Yee receives death threats for publicly supporting pedophilia". The Independent. Singapore. 25 November 2017. Archived from the original on 25 November 2017. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference :6 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference :7 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ Cite error: The named reference :8 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  24. ^ "Amos Yee". Facebook. Archived from the original on 14 November 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  25. ^ Hendrickson, Matthew (16 October 2020). ""Internet troll" Amos Yee charged with child porn". Archived from the original on 19 October 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  26. ^ "Amos Yee charged in US court for solicitation and possession of child porn". sg.news.yahoo.com. 17 October 2020. Archived from the original on 17 October 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  27. ^ "Singaporean Amos Yee jailed in the US for grooming 14-year-old girl, possessing child porn". CNA. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  28. ^ "Singaporean Amos Yee released from US prison on parole after serving time for sex-related offences". CNA. Archived from the original on 7 October 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  29. ^ "Singaporean Amos Yee back in custody in the US a month after release on parole". Yahoo News. Archived from the original on 9 November 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  30. ^ "Singaporean Amos Yee gets earlier projected discharge date, moved to different US prison". CNA. Archived from the original on 12 December 2023. Retrieved 24 March 2024.


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