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

Singaporean commentator Amos Yee Pang Sang received four additional charges on Wednesday, elevating his total to seven. These charges pertain to his posts about race and children. Among the charges, three involve alleged evasions of national service. The 27-year-old allegedly promoted racial and religious discord through two blog posts in April, which discussed racial discrimination, criminal sentencing, and called for protest to hold one race accountable for another's actions.

On May 27, Yee uploaded a video that contained comments on racial discrimination, reasons for a certain race's high inmate population, and encouraged members of that race to protest. Additionally, on June 30, he published an article titled "Why Sex with Babies is Bad" and allegedly made indecent communications through videos from 2021, titled "Free Speech for the Pedophile," "Why Child Pornography Should Be Legal" and "Why Pedophilia Is Alright." In these videos, Yee identified himself as an "advocate" for "child porn" and "baby porn."

Yee's lawyer, Divanan Narkunan, stated that the new charges were served on Wednesday, and the attorney is reviewing the case. The prosecution requested bail of S$15,000 (US$11,800) with conditions, including that Yee refrain from posting online about his views on pedophilia or promoting discord between racial groups. Yee appeared in court with his mother but did not speak during the proceedings.

Social media platform X removed the video uploaded in May following a police directive. Police also instructed Yee to delete the posts from his blog. Yee initially faced charges related to national service enrollment after being deported from the United States in March. He had scheduled a guilty plea for those charges in September, but the court has rescheduled the hearing for a pre-trial conference on September 18.

Each charge carries penalties such as up to three years of imprisonment, fines, or both. Promoting racial discord can result in a maximum of three years in jail, a fine, or both. Indecent communication can lead to a fine of up to S$5,000.