Amos Yee Pang Sang

Early life Amos Yee Pang Sang was born on 31 October 1998 in Singapore to mathematics teacher Mary Toh and computer engineer Alphonsus Yee. and Zhonghua Secondary School. He is bisexual.

Yee was raised Catholic and began attending Mass independently of his family during his first year in secondary school; however, his service as an altar boy was terminated in 2013 after swearing in church. After questioning his confirmation and watching YouTube channels such as The Amazing Atheist, he renounced his faith and became an atheist.

Acting career From 2011 to 2012, Yee was a child actor. In March 2011, his film Jan won the Best Short Film and Best Actor awards at The New Paper First Film Fest (FFF). The paper described the film as a "twisted dark comedy" about a girl with cancer. Yee, 13 at the time, made the film in his bedroom and portrayed the four characters. to write his own dialogue. but Yee later clarified that the video was satirical.

Video criticising Lee Kuan Yew and the Singaporean government On 23 March 2015, Lee Kuan Yew, the first prime minister of Singapore, died. Four days later, Yee uploaded a YouTube video titled "Lee Kuan Yew is Finally Dead!", Yee also said that Lee was a "horrible person", an "awful leader", and a dictator who made his followers believe that he stood for democratic ideals. He further criticised Singapore's taxes for overshadowing the government's spending of money on the public. Lastly, Yee issued a challenge to Lee's son, former prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, stating that he would "oblige to dance with him" if sued by the latter.

Before uploading the video, Yee said that he was worried about the legal ramifications, such as the Sedition Act. He told his mother that he was making a video criticising Lee and uploaded it despite her insistence against the upload. Yee also said that his ideas were influenced by meet-ups with members of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), one of whom introduced him to Roy Ngerng's blog. In court documents, he also admitted that he had criticised Christianity and Lee to initiate discussions on what he saw as flaws with religion and Singapore. He acknowledged the potential offences but continued posting blogs, saying that he hoped for positive changes resulting from the discussions he drew. His statement prompted a subsequent police investigation in December 2015 for posting offensive material on his blog. Yee also created a YouTube video series called "Religion Horrors", which contained two videos titled "Refuting Islam with Their Own Quran" and "Responding to the Bullshit of Christians" that criticised the respective religions.

Controversy over defending paedophilia In November 2017, while in the United States, Yee uploaded a series of YouTube videos titled "Why Pedophilia Is Alright", "Don't Discriminate Pedophiles", and "Free Speech for the Pedophile". He had previously criticised age of consent legislation, defending the notion that if he had acted on his desires as a 16-year-old to have sex with a 20-year-old, the adult should not be imprisoned as he had "perfectly [consented]". The videos were met with strong backlash, including death threats. As he lacked funds at the time, Yee asked his followers for donations via Facebook, stating that he preferred crowdfunding to working a job that he disliked.

In April 2018, the Toy Association pulled ads from YouTube following a CNN report that they had been appearing on Yee's channel, which was being used to promote paedophilia. YouTube subsequently pulled all ads from Yee's videos and banned him from monetising content. In early May 2018, YouTube terminated Yee's channel for violating community guidelines. In July 2018, Yee's Patreon account was shut down, and in the same year, his WordPress blog, Facebook, and Twitter accounts, were also shut down, after having used them to express pro-paedophilia views. After a 9-month internet hiatus, Yee stated in a September 2019 interview that he had been busy creating pro-paedophilia videos. In August 2020, Yee claimed in a blog post that he had been diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder while in an American immigrant detention facility, and that he planned on rebranding himself under the name "Polocle".

Legal issues in Singapore (2015–2016)

Arrest On 29 March 2015, Yee was arrested on the grounds of intentionally wounding religious or racial feelings, threatening, abusive or insulting communication, and obscenity. 32 police reports were filed against Yee for his 2015 video, while another police report was made against alleged obscene material on Yee's blog, which contained an image titled "Lee Kuan Yew buttfucking Margaret Thatcher". Toh filed a police report on the day of the arrest because she was unable to control his behaviour. This was later reported by Today, which added that, on 5 May, she told the police that she no longer wanted to provide a statement.

Charge, bail and remand On 31 March, three charges were read out to Yee in the State Courts of Singapore; the first charge was that his 2015 video violated Section 298 of the Penal Code for containing remarks that deliberately wounded religious feelings. The second charge, which was declared nolle prosequi on 30 April, was that it contained potentially distressing statements concerning Lee, as prohibited by Section 4 of the Protection from Harassment Act 2014. The third charge was under Section 292 of the Penal Code, Yee was released on a S$20,000 bail and prohibited from posting online content while the case was ongoing. the blog post also linked to the video and image he had uploaded the prior month. despite the bail amount only requiring a pledge instead of being physically deposited. Yee was eventually released on bail by Vincent Law, a Singaporean Christian family and youth counsellor. Additionally, three lawyers—Alfred Dodwell, Chong Jia Hao, and Ervin Tan—offered to represent Yee pro bono. District Judge Kessler Soh asked him to take the posts down, but Yee refused. Concurrently, the bail amount was raised to S$30,000, and Yee was again remanded.

Trial Yee was tried as an adult Amongst those who attended the trial were Yee's parents, Ngerng, and social activists Andrew Loh and Teo Soh Lung. Law also attended the trial to support Yee and stated that he had never changed his mind about his decision to post Yee's bail.

The proceedings began with the defence arguing that the obscenity of an image was determined by whether or not it was potentially depraving or had a corrupting effect on any person who was exposed to it, They argued that Section 292, under which Yee was charged, was aimed at "peddlers and purveyors of pornography" and that it is "wholly inapt to describe [any] mischief [...] in this case". The prosecution had argued that Yee's own comments showed his intention to "corrupt and deprave", but the defence countered that a person cannot be convicted ipse dixit. They also argued that the image was not pornographic in nature, as it was not "designed to arouse".

Verdict The court found Yee guilty and convicted him of both charges on 12 May 2015. During the court hearing, Yee requested to be jailed instead of going for probation after Kaur found him guilty. The prosecution requested that Yee be given counselling and probation. The court adjourned sentencing pending a probation report for Yee. Yee was greeted by numerous bystanders, but said to reporters that he was unsure if he should "celebrate [his] release or mourn [his] sentence." A day before the verdict, dozens had attended a candlelight vigil at Hong Lim Park supporting him.

Molestation allegations On 13 May 2015, a day after being released, Yee falsely claimed on Facebook that his former bailor, Law, had molested him. In response, Law told The Online Citizen that he considered charging Yee for defamation if he did not make a public apology. Given that Yee described himself as a "slow writer", he requested that Law give him "about 3 days" to prepare the apology. Afterwards, Yee retracted his apology. Yee justified his definition of "molest" by saying it meant "annoy". When asked about the retraction, Law advised against writing about Yee, and said that he was not considering legal action. On 2 June, Yee was remanded for three weeks, with a report being made to assess his suitability for reformative training. No bail option was offered during said remand. This decision came after Yee rejected probation in favour of a jail term. The prosecution argued that Yee's re-upload of the image and video pertaining to his charges should be taken into account as an indication of his conduct and character. On 23 June, Kaur ordered that Yee again be remanded at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) for two weeks in response to a report by psychiatrist Munidasa Winslow, who said that Yee possibly had autism. However, he was assessed as not having any mental disorder.

On 5 July, the night before the expected date of his next hearing, Yee was admitted to the accident and emergency department at Changi General Hospital for low blood sugar levels. Yee's lawyer had reported on 12 June that Yee was experiencing suicidal thoughts at the prospect of reformative training. While Yee had been "very courteous and engaged in the process", his stint at the IMH was said to have been "a shock to his system". three weeks for wounding the religious feelings of Christians in his Lee Kuan Yew video and the other for the caricature he posted. He was addressed directly by Kaur, who wished that he would reconsider his decision to drop out of school while saying that dropout success stories were rare. He appeared pale and gaunt Upon his release, Yee began to ask for cash donations. In July 2015, Yee filed an appeal against the conviction and sentence; his lawyer, Dodwell, expressed a willingness to take the case to the High Court. Furthermore, many Singaporeans saw Lee Kuan Yew's death as the end of an era marked by significant economic development and racial harmony, while others criticised the severity of his political control, labelling him as autocratic. In an interview with Time, Lee Hsien Loong said that the government and its officials could be criticised, but that freedom of expression had limits.

Yee, along with his views on Lee and religion, was described by Singaporean professor Ronald Chen as a floating signifier and a "symbol of Singapore's progress and associated challenges". Singaporean magazine Today published a piece by an Edwin Teong, who believed that Yee's video was one of several cases representing poor decisions made by Singaporean youths. Meanwhile, Mikha Chan of Free Malaysia Today characterised Yee as a "wannabe intellectual" who often sensationalised topics of discussion, while Grace Fu, then-second minister for foreign affairs, said that the video "crossed the red line on religion". In response to several violent and threatening remarks made against Yee online, the Media Literacy Council and the Singapore Kindness Movement urged netizens to act responsibly and civilly, even when confronted with perceivably offensive opinions.

Slapping incident On 30 April 2015, while en route to the state courts for a pre-trial conference, Yee was slapped in the face by Neo Gim Huah, a self-employed middle-aged man who ran away after challenging Yee to sue him. Neo apologised to Yee and his parents for the assault, saying that he "lost control" and wanted to "teach Yee a lesson". On 11 May, he was sentenced to three weeks' imprisonment for voluntarily causing hurt,

Criticism of Yee's imprisonment Alongside Yee's video, his arrest, imprisonment, trial and verdict drew international attention and scrutiny from both the media and human rights organisations. Amnesty International called Yee's four-week jail sentence a "dark day for freedom of expression" in Singapore and declared Yee a prisoner of conscience, citing Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which highlights the principle to freedom of expression. The United Nations Human Rights Office called for his immediate release in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. BBC News reported that Yee was among several people who criticised Lee online, but was the only one arrested. Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch criticised the verdict as "publicly punishing" Yee and "intimidating anyone else who might think of doing the same in the future." On the other hand, Abdul Rani Kulup Abdullah, chief of Martabat Jalinan Muhibbah Malaysia, a Malaysian non-governmental organisation which reports insults against the prime minister, supported Yee's arrest; he encouraged Malaysia to follow Singapore's example of implementing strict laws on free speech to prevent supposedly anarchy-causing influential criticism against the government.

The Singaporean government's handling of Yee's case was also criticised by people and organisations within the country; the Association of Women for Action and Research urged the state to be mindful of the consequences of future prosecutions. Politician Goh Meng Seng said that, despite considering Yee rude, he felt that Yee was obligated to defend his rights. The Committee to Protect Journalists and a petition started by a Christian Singaporean both called for Yee's release, the former of which criticised his arrest as a reminder of the restrictive working conditions in Singaporean journalism. On 30 June, university students in Hong Kong held a protest to urge the Singaporean government to release Yee. Student activist group Scholarism, which took part in the protest, published a post asserting that the actions taken against Yee reflected the lack of freedom of speech within Singaporean society.

On 5 July, a demonstration was held in Hong Kong, where protestors burnt effigies of Lee Hsien Loong and Lee Kuan Yew, to demand the release of Yee. About 50 people from various civic and political groups gathered near the Singapore Consulate in Admiralty with banners and placards, which read "Dissident is not Demented" and "Freedom of Speech should not be infringed". The same day in Singapore, a rally organised by Community Action Network, which advocates for freedom of expression in the country, was attended by an estimated 500 people,

Second trial and sentencing On 11 May 2016, Yee was arrested for allegedly posting content designed to hurt religious feelings and for failing to report to a police station as required by the terms of his probation. He was subsequently released on bail once more. On 17 August, Yee stood trial over six charges for deliberate intent to wound religious feelings and two charges for failure to turn up for police interviews. He was not represented by a lawyer, and seven police officers were summoned as prosecution's witnesses. Before the trial could proceed further, Yee was granted permission to go for Criminal Case Resolution process.

On 29 September 2016, Yee was sentenced to 6 weeks' jail and fined $2,000 for wounding religious feelings. The presiding judge said that Yee posted a photograph and two videos that targeted the feelings of Christians and Muslims, and that Yee's actions should not be tolerated since they had the potential to cause social upheaval. Yee began serving his jail term on 13 October.

Asylum to the U.S and further legal issues (2016–2026) On 16 December 2016, Yee fled to the United States with the assistance of Singaporean activist Melissa Chen. Upon arrival at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, he was detained by Customs and Border Protection after announcing his intention to seek political asylum, During the application, he was incarcerated in McHenry County Jail in Illinois before being transferred to Dodge County Detention Facility in Wisconsin. Yee was granted asylum on 24 March 2017, after judge Samuel B. Cole ruled that Yee faced persecution in Singapore for his political opinions, citing the different treatment that Cheng and Yee received in his decision.

On 25 April 2017, the U.S. government appealed the asylum judgement, leading to the continuation of Yee's detention at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) centre. He was released from an ICE facility in downtown Chicago on 26 September 2017 after the Board of Immigration Appeals upheld his bid for asylum. After his release, Yee told reporters that he could criticise the Singaporean government without fear of imprisonment and that he would possibly broaden his work to cover US politics. His bail was set at US$1 million and he was banned from internet usage while awaiting trial.

Yee initially pleaded not guilty, but later accepted a plea bargain in late 2021, where he pled guilty to two charges of child grooming and child pornography in exchange for a 6-year prison sentence and the dismissal of 16 other charges. He was also warned that he could be deported to Singapore and denied naturalisation as an American citizen. The sentence was backdated to his arrest, with a projected release date of 8 October 2026. It was reported on 8 November that Yee had been re-arrested for violating parole conditions and had been transferred to the maximum security Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, Illinois. On 12 December 2023, he was transferred to Danville Correctional Center, a medium security prison. After being released on his projected parole date of 7 November 2025, Yee was readmitted to prison on the same day for violation of parole conditions.

On 20 November 2025, Yee faced deportation to Singapore after being released from Danville Correctional Center on parole and was reported on 24 November to be detained in an ICE detention facility. Having been required to perform compulsory national service in Singapore around 2016 under the Enlistment Act, he was considered a defaulter under Singaporean law, a status carrying a prison sentence between two and 36 months, depending on the length of the default period, and a potential fine of up to S$10,000. Return to Singapore (2026–present) On 19 March 2026, Yee was deported to Singapore. On 20 March, he was arrested by the Central Manpower Base's enlistment officers. He was charged with three counts under the Enlistment Act at his court hearing that same day. On 26 March, he was released on a bail of S$10,000, which had been offered on the same day and paid by his mother. Yee is expected to plead guilty on 7 September.

Yee planned to attend Doujima 2026, an anime convention, but was barred from entry by the organisers on 8 May 2026 due to concerns about the safety of minors. The cosplayer was arrested and charged for assault and causing public nuisance, while Yee sustained minor injuries. His existing $10,000 bail was increased to $15,000.