SINGAPORE, April 21 — Amos Yee, the teenager facing three criminal charges for content he posted online, was today released from custody after youth and family counsellor Vincent Law posted bail for him.
In handcuffs and ankle restraints, Amos — who had been remanded in Changi Prison since last Friday — was accompanied to the bail centre by five uniformed officers at around 6.15pm.
Law, 51, said he hopes Amos is willing to be counselled by him. “Amos may respond more to a third party especially since (I) am a counsellor... I am also a parent and I feel for his parents,” said the former director of Healthserve.
“It seems that the charge said he made disparaging remarks against Christianity. I am a Christian, so I am stepping up to say I am not offended,” said Law, adding that Amos will likely be in his parents’ custody.
Amos’ parents declined to comment when asked why they had not posted bail for their son.
Amos is being represented by Alfred Dodwell and Chong Jia Hao from Dodwell & Co LLC, and Ervin Tan from Michael Hwang Chambers LLC. The team is working on a pro bono basis. Amos will appear before the court again on April 30 for a pre-trial conference, where his bail conditions will be reviewed, among other things.
Jolovan Wham from HOME and lawyer Teo Soh Lung were among those present in court to show their support. His parents were also in court.
Dodwell told the court he hopes the bail conditions can be “whittled down, it seems quite wide its ambit”.
He later told reporters that he got in touch with Amos’ parents two days ago. The lawyers also said they have assisted Amos to take down his post dated April 14, where he had sought public donations. His posts had flouted his initial bail conditions, which disallowed him to post materials online.
Amos was charged on March 31 after posing a video on YouTube containing insensitive remarks about Christianity and disparaging comments about the late Lee Kuan Yew. — Today
