US' prerogative to take in Amos Yee : Singapore
It is the prerogative of the United States to take in people who engage in hate speech, said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), following news that the US has granted teenage blogger Amos Yee asylum.
In 2015, Amos Yee was charged for engaging in hate speech against Christians. He had said "Christians… are… power hungry and malicious but deceive others into thinking that they are compassionate and kind. Their impact and legacy will ultimately not last as more and more people find out that they are full of bull… Similar to the Christian knowledge of the bible, and the work of a multitude of a priests."
AFP reported that the teen who was jailed twice after insulting the island's late leader Lee Kuan Yew and religious groups has been granted political asylum in the United States, his US lawyer said Saturday.
Amos Yee, 18, shocked Singaporeans in March 2015 after posting an expletive-laden video attacking Lee as the founding prime minister's death triggered a massive outpouring of grief in the city-state.
He was jailed for four weeks for hurting the religious feelings of Christians and posting an obscene image as part of his attacks on Lee -- whose son Lee Hsien Loong is now the prime minister -- but served 50 days including penalties for violating bail conditions.
He was jailed again in 2016 for six weeks for insulting Muslims and Christians in a series of videos posted online, but critics claim the real reason was to silence him.
Yee's lawyer Sandra Grossman of Maryland-based Grossman Law LLC told AFP by telephone that US immigration judge Samuel B. Cole had granted her client's application for asylum.