Amos Yee’s 10 years of trouble
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Amos Yee has been embroiled in controversy for more than 10 years.
PHOTO: ST FILE
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SINGAPORE – For more than a decade, Amos Yee was involved in controversies and legal trouble, and left Singapore to seek political asylum in the US.
He was locked up in the Land of the Free, though, first at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement centre while undergoing the asylum process, and then arrested and jailed on child pornography charges
Here is a timeline of events, condensing the key moments in his journey:
March-April 2015
Then 16, Yee was arrested after he uploaded an expletive-laden video four days after the death of founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, in which he made derogatory remarks about the late Mr Lee and compared him to Jesus Christ.
He was given three charges in court, including allegedly uploading content online which contained remarks against Christianity, with the deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of Christians.
Yee was told not to post or distribute anything online as part of bail conditions, but later had a police report made against him for posting online an appeal for donations that included links to his previous content.
Yee was kept in remand for four nights until a counsellor bailed him out, but the latter then discharged himself, citing how Yee refused to comply with bail conditions.
Yee was then sent back to remand in Changi Prison after he violated bail conditions, criticising the judiciary and alleging that his father had abused him in online posts.
He was also struck by a man outside the State Courts.
May-June 2015
Yee was found guilty of attacking Christianity with the deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of Christians, and transmitting electronically an image showing obscene figures.
He was sentenced to four weeks’ jail but walked out of court as his sentence was backdated.
The prosecution had initially considered probation for him, but asked for reformative training.
This was after he was uncooperative with his probation officer, and made public again the visuals that got him into trouble.
Before he was sentenced, Yee was remanded at the Institute of Mental Health for two weeks, on the judge’s orders.
November 2015-May 2016
Yee was arrested again in May 2016, for deliberate intent to wound religious or racial feelings, and for not showing up at a police station.
He failed to respond to orders by the police and a magistrate to report to a police station.
He was being investigated for publishing a blog post in November that made reference to former Nominated MP Calvin Cheng and Islam.
May-October 2016
Yee was sentenced to six weeks’ jail and a $2,000 fine in total for the eight charges he faced.
Six of the charges were linked to the intent to wound the feelings of Muslims and Christians.
While he initially decided to contest all eight charges, he eventually pleaded guilty to all of them.
He started serving his jail term on Oct 13.
December 2016-September 2017
Yee left Singapore for the United States to seek asylum after he was released from prison.
He was detained on arrival in Chicago and held in a county jail.
His lawyer said he was likely detained because he entered the country on a tourist visa, despite intending to apply for asylum in the US.
He was granted asylum in March, despite opposition from the Department of Homeland Security, with the US government filing an appeal.
His asylum application was upheld in September by an appeals board, which said his fear of persecution was “well-founded”.
He was then released from detention.
October-November 2020
Yee was indicted by a grand jury at an Illinois court and formally charged with solicitation and possession of child pornography.
He allegedly exchanged nude photos and “thousands” of messages with a 14-year-old Texas girl while in Chicago, reported the Chicago Sun-Times daily newspaper.
Earlier, his bail was set at US$1 million (S$1.3 million) and he was banned from using the internet while awaiting trial.
October-November 2023
After serving half his sentence, Yee was released on parole on Oct 7
Exactly one month later, on Nov 7, he was rearrested and sent to the Stateville Correctional Center
The reason for his re-incarceration is unknown, although he had made two blog posts while on parole, one of which stated that he had a goal of “(making) ‘defending paedophiles’ popular”.
October 2025
An e-mail notification by the US VINELink service, which provides the current status of offenders, said Yee was due to be released from prison on Nov 7
November 2025
Yee was released from US prison on Nov 7, and subsequently rearrested.
Although a reason was not given by the Illinois Department of Corrections, a post on a blog run by his supporters said it was because suitable accommodation away from children had not been found for Yee.
He was subsequently released on Nov 20
