A Singaporean teenager faces up to three years in prison for criticising the nation’s late founder, Lee Kuan Yew, and Christianity in an online video.
At a court in Singapore on Tuesday, Yee was charged with three offences – two of insulting Christianity and the late statesman, and another of allegedly transmitting online an “obscene representation”, according to court documents.
In the eight-minute clip posted on YouTube, entitled Lee Kuan Yew Is Finally Dead!, 16-year-old Amos Yee Pang Sang likened Lee, Singapore’s first prime minister, to Jesus Christ and said they were both “power-hungry and malicious but deceive others into thinking they are both compassionate and kind”.
“Lee Kuan Yew was a horrible person, because everyone is scared,” Yee said in the video. “Everyone is afraid if they say something like that, they might get into trouble.”