Less than a year after he was released from jail for posting online an obscene image and content intended to hurt the religious feelings of Christians, teenage blogger Amos Yee is set to be charged on Thursday (May 26) with similar offences.
The 17-year-old will face eight charges, including five for allegedly wounding the religious feelings of Muslims and one for allegedly wounding the religious feelings of Christians. These charges relate to content he posted online between November last year and last Thursday.
The remaining two charges are for allegedly failing to show up at Jurong Police Division last December and this month, despite a notice from Assistant Superintendent of Police Doreen Chong and a magistrate’s order to do so.
Lawyer Alfred Dodwell, who represented Amos previously, said he will not be representing the blogger this time.
Yee posted images of the eight charge sheets on his blog on Wednesday, and pointed to more content of the same nature he had posted, that he was not being charged in court for.
His brush with the law last year had ignited public debate and involved many twists and turns, including time in custody before a family counsellor posted bail for him. The counsellor discharged himself as bailor when Yee defied the bail conditions.
Three lawyers, including Mr Dodwell, stepped forward to represent Yee. Civil society activists and the public packed the courtroom during his trial.
The prosecution had sought probation and reformative training at various stages of court proceedings but Yee had refused to cooperate and was sentenced to four weeks’ jail last July. His appeal against conviction and sentence was dismissed in October.
If convicted of deliberately wounding the religious feelings of others, Yee could be jailed up to three years and fined. For failing to show up at Jurong Police Division in spite of an order, he could be jailed up to a month and fined up to S$1,500.
Source: www.todayonline.com
