Amos Yee gets fresh charges for indecent comments, promoting racial disharmony

Singaporean online commentator Amos Yee has been hit with four new charges stemming from posts made this year concerning race and children. These charges increase his total to seven, which includes three counts for allegedly evading National Service (NS).

The 27-year-old is accused of making two posts on his blog in April and uploading a video to X (formerly Twitter) in May. In these posts, Yee commented on alleged racial discrimination within Singapore. Additionally, in a late June blog post, Yee allegedly stated that children are capable of consenting to sexual acts and argued for the removal of laws that set the age of consent.

X removed the video after police issued a directive, and police also instructed Yee to take down his blog posts. Yee was initially charged with NS enlistment offenses after being deported to Singapore from the United States in March. His plea hearing for the NS-related charges, initially scheduled for September, has been vacated and rescheduled for a pre-trial conference on September 18.

Yee, who has been active online since returning to Singapore, is represented by Mr. Divanan Narkunan. Penalties for NS defaulters include jail time of up to three years or a fine of up to S$10,000 per charge, or both. Those convicted of promoting racial disharmony can face up to three years in jail, a fine, or both. Making an indecent communication likely to cause alarm, under the Protection from Harassment Act, can result in a fine of up to S$5,000.