Singaporean Amos Yee, 22, has been charged with solicitation and possession of child pornography in the United States.
Based on reports by the Chicago Suntimes (CST), Yee exchanged nude photos and thousands of messages with a 14-year-old Texan girl. The exchange happened between April and July 2019 while he was living in Chicago.
According to prosecutors, the 14-year-old had repeatedly told Yee that she was underage in their messages. Yee ignored this and had allegedly instructed her to remove her age from her WhatsApp profile.
After the relationship had soured, the girl reached out to a group committed to finding paedophiles called ‘interested in exposing paedophiles’. This prompted legal proceedings on Yee. Homeland Security officials were soon involved in the case as well, the report cited the prosecutors as saying.
While living in Chicago, US, Yee published videos on YouTube promoting paedophilia. In November 2017, Yee uploaded pro-paedophilia content to YouTube, entitled “Why Pedophilia Is Alright, Don’t Discriminate Pedophiles,” and “Free Speech for the Pedophile.”
His YouTube channel and accounts on other social media sites, including Facebook and Twitter, have since been removed for violating community guidelines.
Indicted By Grand Jury Following Charges of Child Pornography
Today, Yee was told by a judge in a Chicago court appearance that he has been indicted.
So what does that mean?
Basically, it means that he’s formally charged with the crime. The judge also said that the “defendant demands trial”, which means Yee most probably didn’t plead guilty.
As for Yee, during the remote hearing, Yee simply said two words: “Thank you.”
Some Background on Yee’s Asylum in the US
In 2015, Yee was jailed for four weeks in Singapore for hate speech against Christians, including publishing an obscene image. In 2016, Yee was jailed six weeks and fined S$2,000, for another slew of hate speech against Muslims and Christians.
During this time, a Singaporean activist based in the United States, Melissa Chen visited him and assisted him in facilitating his asylum request to the US.
Yee fled Singapore in Dec 2016, before his call-up for National Service. By leaving Singapore, Yee breached Singaporean law requiring compulsory military service for all Singaporean men.
He was granted asylum in 2017 by a US immigration court despite opposition from the Department of Homeland Security.
And yes; he might come back to Singapore if he’s found guilty.
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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