ASIA PACIFIC

Singapore Convicts Teenager of Obscenity and Insulting Religious Feelings

By AUSTIN RAMZYMAY 12, 2015

HONG KONG — A teenager who posted a video criticizing Lee Kuan Yew, the founding father of modern Singapore, was convicted on charges of obscenity and insulting religious feelings by a court in the city-state on Tuesday.

Prosecutors had asked the court to sentence Amos Yee, 16, to probation and counseling rather than prison time or a fine. A June 2 hearing has been scheduled for the announcement of his sentence.

His arrest this spring, at a time when many Singaporeans were mourning the March 23 death of Mr. Lee, brought a renewed focus on Singapore’s reputation for tight limits on expression.

Officials there have pursued legal cases against critics and foreign news media outlets including The International Herald Tribune, now the International New York Times.

Mr. Yee had posted a short video on YouTube titled “Lee Kuan Yew Is Finally Dead!” in which he questioned the late leader’s legacy. He said Mr. Lee and Jesus were “both power hungry and malicious” and criticized their followers, comments that formed the basis of the charge that he had violated a Singapore law against acting with “deliberate intention of wounding the religious or racial feelings.”

The teenager also posted an image on his blog depicting Mr. Lee engaged in a sex act with Margaret Thatcher, the former prime minister of Britain, which led to the obscenity charge.

“His actions show him to be a misguided young man who sought to gain attention for himself by deliberately posting obscene material to shock and deliberately posting material he admits he knew would cause ill will among Christians,” a deputy public prosecutor, Hay Hung Chun, told the court on Tuesday.

“His actions are far from being ‘noble’ or imbued with good intentions,” Mr. Hay said.

Prosecutors told the court a fine or prison time would be inappropriate given Mr. Yee’s age. “What he urgently needs is counseling and appropriate probation,” Mr. Hay said.

Mr. Yee faces a prison term of up to three years on the charge of wounding religious feelings, and up to three months in prison on the obscenity charge. Shortly after his arrest, the teenager was released on bail posted by a supporter, and then returned to custody in Changi Prison after he refused to comply with bail requirements that he not continue posting online.

On Tuesday, Singapore’s prosecutors asked for an easing of the bail terms so he would not continue to be held. Mr. Yee was released Tuesday evening on the equivalent of $7,500 bail, which was posted by his father, according to his lawyer.

Alfred Dodwell, a lawyer for Mr. Yee, said the teenage blogger was raised as a Catholic but embraced atheism. Mr. Yee viewed the bail requirements as a gag order and the charges against him as an attack on free speech, his lawyer said.

“He feels very strongly about his message,” Mr. Dodwell said in a telephone interview after a two-day trial last week. “Perhaps the timing and tone and tenor were wrong, but my point was that while all this may feel reprehensible and naughty, has a crime been committed? As a lawyer my message was that it was wrongly timed, but there is no crime.”

Mr. Yee was considering whether to appeal, Mr. Dodwell said.

The case against Mr. Yee set off criticism over the city-state’s handling of critical speech.

“Criminalizing free expression by anyone who dares mock the powers that be is a tried and true practice of the Singapore government, and Amos Yee is the latest victim,” said Phil Robertson, the Bangkok-based deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division.

Another speech case in Singapore has also attracted attention. Ai Takagi, a 22-year-old Australian woman, and Yang Kaiheng, a 26-year-old Singaporean man, were charged with sedition in April over a series of blog posts on their website The Real Singapore, which is now defunct, that criticized foreign workers in the city-state. The pair are accused of promoting “feelings of ill will and hostility between different races or classes of the population of Singapore.”

Foreigners make up about one-third of Singapore’s work force, and their growing numbers have led to concerns about demands on public resources and competition for jobs.