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Bhavan Jaipragas

Singaporean teenage blogger Amos Yee has been granted asylum in the United States, his lawyer said Saturday.
The 18-year-old has been held in a detention facility in Chicago since December 16, after border control officers stopped him from entering the country upon finding out about his plans to seek asylum.
“On March 24, 2017, the Honorable Immigration Judge Samuel B. Cole granted Amos Yee’s asylum application,” Sandra Grossman, Yee’s pro-bono lawyer in the US, said in a statement.
“Judge Cole concluded that the Singapore government persecuted Yee on account of his political opinion, and that Yee is deserving of asylum as a matter of discretion.”
Yee, who has been in US immigration detention for more than 90 days, is now immediately eligible for release.
“He was very pleased with the outcome and pleasantly surprised. He will hopefully be released on Monday,” Grossman told This Week in Asia.

Yee served two separate jail terms in Singapore for offences related to his commentary.
He served 53 days of jail time in 2015 and three weeks in 2016 for denigrating religion and insulting the country’s late founding father Lee Kuan Yew.
The teenager blogger earlier said he was seeking asylum in the US because it seemed the punishment was aimed at curbing his dissenting views on the long-ruling People’s Action Party.
Those claims have been rebuffed by government officials who say Yee was convicted for breaking the law.
“I think this is a major embarrassment for the government, that all along claimed Amos’ persecution was not political,” Kenneth Jeyaretnam, an opposition politician who gave testimony supporting Yee’s asylum, said.
Jeyaretnam said the decision “may create waves in Singapore. It may show Singaporeans that there’s nothing to be afraid about. The Singapore government is a paper tiger. We don’t have to swallow the brainwashing that is constantly put out”.
Leading Singaporeans criticise ‘harsh’ treatment of teenager Amos Yee over online comments
Phil Robertson, campaign group Human Rights Watch’s deputy Asia director, lauded the US judge’s asylum decision: “There was never any doubt that Amos Yee is the quintessential political dissident, escaping from the sort of a pressure cooker environment that city-state Singapore excels in devising for dissidents who challenge its prerogatives.
“It’s clear the Singapore government saw Amos Yee as the proverbial nail sticking up that had to be hammered down.”
Absolute freedom of speech comes at a price
Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs issued a statement on Saturday in which it quoted Yee’s remarks against Muslims and Christians and noted Yee had pleaded guilty to charges against him.
“Yee had engaged in hate speech against Christians and Muslims,” the ministry said. “The US adopts a different standard, and allows such hate speech under the rubric of freedom of speech.
“It is the prerogative of the US to take in such people who engage in hate speech. There are many more such people, around the world, who deliberately engage in hate speech, and who may be prosecuted. Some of them will no doubt take note of the US approach, and consider applying for asylum in the US.”
Teen blogger Amos Yee seeking US asylum fears return to Singapore
The US Department of Homeland Security had opposed Yee’s asylum application, saying the Singapore government had legitimately prosecuted Yee.
The PAP has long defended imposing certain restrictions on the freedom of speech in the Southeast Asian city state, measures it says are necessary in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society.
In the statement, Yee’s lawyer lauded the move by the US judge.
“The right to free speech is sacred, even when such speech is considered offensive. The decision timely underscores the vital need for an independent judiciary in a functioning democracy,” she said.
“It further affirms our country’s leadership in defending the basic human right of all people to freely express themselves.”
Additional reporting by Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Reuters


Teenage Singaporean blogger Amos Yee granted asylum in U.S.

Singapore teenage blogger Amos Yee with his mother Mary Toh Ai Buay and father Alphonsus Yee, outside the state court in Singapore on July 6, 2015. Photo: AFP

23-year-old Han Hui Hui from Singapore supports Amos Yee and speaks on how she was suppressed by Singapore government. Scholarism and the student unions of the University of Hong Kong and Lingnan University stage a petition outside the Singaporean consulate in Admiralty to call for Amos Yee's immediate release. 30JUN15

‘It’s overly rude’: Singaporean blogger Amos Yee regrets controversial posts as he seeks asylum in US

Teen blogger Amos Yee leaves with his parents after his sentencing from the State Court in Singapore. Photo: Reuters

epa05687090 (FILE) - A file picture dated 06 July 2015 shows teenage blogger Amos Yee (R) , accompanied by his mother Mary Toh (L) leaving the State Court in Singapore. According to media reports on 24 December 2016, Yee is being detained by US immigration officials at the McHenry County Adult Correctional Facility in Woodstock, Illinois after traveling to the USA on 16 December to seek political asylum. EPA/WALLACE WOON

Will Trump’s immigration blitz hit Singaporean teen blogger Amos Yee’s asylum bid?

Singaporean teenage blogger Amos Yee has been jailed twice in his home country for online posts denigrating religion and the country’s late founding leader Lee Kuan Yew. Photo: AFP

The US-Mexico border wall in Tijuana. Photo: AFP

Singapore rebel teen Amos Yee, who is out on bail, speaks to reporters outside the State Courts after he was jailed for six weeks for insulting Muslims and Christians in a fresh brush with the law, in Singapore on September 29, 2016. Yee, 17, first gained notoriety in March 2015 after posting an expletive-laden video attacking Lee Kuan Yew as the founding prime minister's death triggered a massive outpouring of grief in the city-state. / AFP PHOTO / ELIZABETH LAW

Crowd gathers at Hong Lim Park in support of 16-year-old Amos Yee who is behind online attacks on late former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore on July 5, 2015. Yee is due to appear in court on July 6, following two weeks at the Institute of Mental Health after a judge had ordered psychiatric tests before he was sentenced. AFP PHOTO / MOHD FYROL / AFP PHOTO / MOHD FYROL

US President Donald Trump speaks to the staff at the Department of Homeland Security in Washington, DC, on January 25, 2017. Trump vowed to restore "control" of US frontiers as he moved Wednesday to fulfil his pledge to "build a wall" on the Mexican border, signing two immigration-related decrees and sounding a hardline tone. / AFP PHOTO / NICHOLAS KAMM

Human rights activists display placards showing support for 16-year-old Singaporean Amos Yee during a protest in Hong Kong on July 5, 2015. Yee was convicted in May this year on two criminal charges: wounding religious feelings in an expletive-laden video comparing Lee Kuan Yew to Jesus, and circulating an obscene cartoon of the former prime minister, who died in March. AFP PHOTO / DALE DE LA REY / AFP PHOTO / DALE de la REY

SAN YSIDRO, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 25: Construction equiptment at the U.S.-Mexico border wall on January 25, 2017 in San Ysidro, California. U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order to begin the process of building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and is expected to sign an executive order that would suspend the United States' broader refugee program for 125 days. Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images/AFP

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The 18-year-old is immediately eligible for release, after being held in a detention facility in Chicago since December 16


Teenage Singaporean blogger Amos Yee granted asylum in U.S.

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The 18-year-old is immediately eligible for release, after being held in a detention facility in Chicago since December 16

The 18-year-old is immediately eligible for release, after being held in a detention facility in Chicago since December 16