Release Singaporean teen blogger Amos Yee, Hong Kong student group Scholarism urges

Hong Kong student group Scholarism is urging Singapore to release teen blogger Amos Yee, who was last month convicted for posting a controversial video attacking late prime minister Lee Kuan Yew.

The group condemned the Singaporean government for remanding Yee, 16, in a mental health institution after his conviction. It said this showed the Lion City was disrespectful of children’s rights and dissenting voices.

“The Singaporean government detained a teenager because of one video. This only shows Singapore, a so-called modernised society, fails to allow dissidents and different voices,” it said.

The group said that under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, young people’s freedom of speech should be protected from government infringements.

Scholarism and the student unions of the University of Hong Kong and Lingnan University will stage a petition outside the Singaporean consulate in Admiralty on Tuesday afternoon to call for Yee’s immediate release.

Yee was earlier found guilty of two criminal charges.