Blogger Amos Yee arrested again
SINGAPORE - Teen blogger Amos Yee has been arrested again, a year after he was convicted of wounding the feelings of Christians and uploading an obscene image.
The 17-year-old was arrested on Wednesday (May 11) for allegedly uttering words last November with a deliberate intent to wound religious or racial feelings, and for not showing up at a police station.
His mother Mary Toh, 49, told The Straits Times on Thursday (May 12) evening that she had gone to bail him out on the night of the arrest and he was now at home.
In response to queries, the police said that a 17-year-old male Singaporean was arrested for offences under Sections 174 and 298 of the Penal Code.
The first offence concerns a failure to attend to an order from a public servant. The second was in relation to online comments made last November which contained "offensive and disparaging remarks against various religious communities".
After reports were lodged with police over the online remarks, the police issued a notice in December last year ordering him to report for investigations.
Yee failed to do so, left the country shortly after, and "remained overseas for a prolonged period until his return in April", said a police spokesman.
When he returned, he was served a warrant to report again at a police station, but he did not comply.
Yee came to the attention of the authorities when he uploaded an expletive-laden video on March 27, four days after the death of founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew. He later also posted an obscene image on his blog.
He was convicted on May 12 last year and later sentenced on July 6 to four weeks' jail. He was released the same day as the punishment was backdated to include his time in remand, as he had spent about 50 days after repeatedly breaching bail conditions.
In a post on Nov 27 last year, Yee made reference to Islam as he shared his thoughts on comments made by former Nominated MP Calvin Cheng about children and terrorists.
Last week, Yee also uploaded a video of police at his home to issue him with a warrant to appear at the Jurong Police Division. Police said investigations are ongoing.