Amos Yee to remain in US prison until November, faces lifetime monitoring for parole breach
The Illinois Department of Corrections listed the 26-year-old's new projected parole date as two years after his re-arrest in November 2023.
His projected discharge date now ranges from three years to life, meaning he may remain under US authorities' supervision indefinitely.
Originally, Yee was expected to be released on 24 April 2025.
However, due to a ruling by the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, he was deemed to have violated parole conditions and is no longer eligible for mandatory supervised release until November.
A spokesperson from the Illinois Department of Corrections confirmed the parole breach but did not provide further details, as reported by Singapore state media The Straits Times.
Yee is currently held at Danville Correctional Centre, a medium-security male prison located approximately two hours and forty minutes from Chicago.
He was initially released on parole on 7 October 2023, three years before the end of his original six-year sentence.
Amos Yee sentenced in 2021 following his guilty plea to charges of grooming and possessing child pornography
His early release followed a guilty plea in December 2021 to charges of grooming a minor and possessing child pornography.
Sixteen additional charges were dropped as part of the plea agreement. The court retroactively applied his sentence to his October 2020 arrest.
US marshals arrested Yee at his residence in Chicago's Norwood Park East in 2020 after it was discovered that he had engaged in a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl via WhatsApp.
Despite the victim repeatedly stating her age, Yee persisted in soliciting nude photos and reciprocated with explicit images. He also distributed the images online.
The crimes occurred between February and July 2019, and Yee's communications with the girl spanned thousands of messages.
Yee fled to the US in December 2016, the day before he was scheduled to report for his national service medical examination in Singapore.
He was granted political asylum in March 2017 by a Chicago immigration judge, who ruled he had been persecuted in Singapore for his political views.
The US Department of Homeland Security's appeal against the ruling was dismissed in September 2017.
Prior to his relocation, Yee was jailed twice in Singapore.
In 2015, at age 16, he was arrested after posting a video criticising the late Lee Kuan Yew shortly after the former prime minister's death.
The video and an obscene image led to his conviction for wounding religious feelings and obscenity.
He was released in May 2015, having served more time in custody than the sentence required.
In 2017, Yee was jailed again after pleading guilty to six charges of wounding religious feelings of Christians and Muslims in his blog and video posts.
His re-incarceration in the US is believed to be linked to new online activity while on parole, which violated conditions barring internet use by sex offenders.
According to the US Courts' guidelines, individuals on sex offender parole are prohibited from internet access. Yee allegedly breached this by posting on his blog.
In a controversial post titled 'Amos Yee's Update after 3 Years in American Prison', Yee denied manipulating his victim and expressed continued support for paedophilia.
He wrote that if he again formed a relationship with a minor he was attracted to, he would 'break the law again'.
Yee also discussed returning to Singapore, acknowledging the possibility of losing his asylum status, facing charges for evading national service, and risking further prosecution for criticising the government.
Despite these threats, he said he remained committed to political activism and believed he could still contribute to society.
In another blog entry dated 5 November 2023, Yee outlined provocative goals, including creating a popular platform to defend paedophilia and promoting illegal protests in Singapore.
These posts, deemed a breach of parole conditions, likely prompted US authorities to revoke his early release.
Yee remains listed on the US sex offender registry, with his offence details and residential information publicly accessible.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Paper
4 hours ago
- New Paper
Former pre-school teacher who kicked, bruised pupil's shin jailed
SINGAPORE - A pre-school teacher forcefully kicked and bruised the shin of a four-year-old pupil whom she thought had caused her to nearly trip. Alamelu Paramaguru then scolded the little girl who hugged her injured leg in pain. Alamelu, who did not own up to her actions at first, was charged after investigators viewed CCTV footage of the incident in April 2024. On Aug 19, the 57-year-old Singaporean, who is no longer working as a pre-school teacher, was sentenced to four days' jail after she pleaded guilty in July to ill-treating the child. Before handing down the sentence, District Judge Koo Zhi Xuan said that Alamelu did not come clean at first, and that she was not a random stranger to the victim. He also noted that the former pre-school teacher had scolded the child, who was in pain, after kicking her. However, the judge added that he was aware that Alamelu was "not having an easy time" before she committed the offence and was then in a "high stress environment", handling a class of around 15 children. In earlier proceedings, Deputy Public Prosecutor Timotheus Koh told the court that Alamelu was preparing for her pupils' nap time shortly before she committed the offence at around noon on April 2, 2024. Alamelu was moving a sleeping cot to a corner of a classroom, when she "felt that she was nearly tripped by the victim who was seated on the floor, though (Alamelu) did not actually trip or fall", said the prosecutor. "The accused was angry and immediately forcefully kicked the victim on her right shin, while scolding and shouting at the victim to sit properly." When the child's mother went to the pre-school at around 5.40pm that day, the child complained that Alamelu had kicked her. The mother also saw the bruise. As Alamelu had left for the day, the mother spoke to Alamelu's colleagues, who said that they would alert the principal of the school. The mother lodged a police report that evening and took her daughter to KK Women's and Children's Hospital. The child was given two days' medical leave. Alamelu later told investigators that she "could not remember what had happened". She also claimed that her foot could have "unconsciously" touched the victim's leg. However, a CCTV camera in the classroom caught her ill-treating the child, and she was later charged in court. On Aug 19, defence lawyer Jonathan Wong from Tembusu Law told the court that he hoped a fine could be considered for Alamelu, but added that she was prepared to face whatever punishment the court meted out to her. Mr Wong said that his client, who is blind in one eye, had worked in childcare for some 30 years and the offence was a one-off incident.
New Paper
4 hours ago
- New Paper
Singaporean man jailed 72 years' jail in Malaysia for murdering wife, stepson
A Singaporean man found guilty of murdering his wife and stepson has been sentenced to 72 years' jail and 24 strokes of the cane by a Malaysian court. Shahrul Nizam Zuraimy, 36, had killed and dismembered his victims and disposed of them in different locations in October 2019. He was charged with two counts of murder for causing the deaths of Norfazera Bidin, 27, and Muhammad Iman Ashraf, 11, at a house in Melaka between 6pm on Oct 6, 2019, and 7.30am on Oct 7, 2019, reported state news agency Bernama. The Melaka High Court on Aug 18 ordered Shahrul to serve 36 years in prison and receive 12 strokes of the cane for each of the two charges. The sentences run consecutively beginning from his date of arrest on Oct 11, 2019, reported the New Straits Times (NST). High Court judge Anselm Charles Fernandis said the act of dismembering and disposing of the victims' body parts appeared to be an attempt to prevent the authorities from identifying the victims. "The heads of both victims were carefully wrapped and hidden in the ceiling to prevent the smell and blood from being detected," he was quoted as saying by NST. Shahrul had also reportedly disposed parts of the victims in a bush. "The court also took into consideration the accused's action of cleaning the house after the incident before he went to Singapore and was arrested by police there, before being handed over to Malaysian police. "After reviewing all the testimonies from both prosecution and defence witnesses, the court found the accused guilty of both charges," Datuk Anselm reportedly said. Norfazera's mother and sister had earlier pleaded for Shahrul to be given the death penalty, saying that they suffered continuous trauma as the accused had committed a brutal murder. However, Shahrul's lawyers appealed for him to be spared the death sentence as he had repented and regretted his actions, and had also behaved well throughout his six years in prison since being arrested, reported NST.
New Paper
6 hours ago
- New Paper
Jail for married man who offered cash to girl, 12, for sexual acts
A married man, who chatted with a 12-year-old girl online and found out that she was selling pictures of herself naked for $150, offered her the same amount if she allowed him to touch her. Despite knowing the girl's age, Kok Chuan Yuan and the girl later went to a stairwell of a Housing Board block, where she allowed him to perform lewd acts after he promised to give her $50. He contacted the victim again later that day and invited her to his home in exchange for $50, but she turned him down. Kok, 37, was sentenced to a year and seven months' jail on Aug 19. He had pleaded guilty to offences that include obtaining for consideration the sexual services of the minor. Deputy Public Prosecutor Yeo Kee Hwan told the court that Kok had earlier gone on online marketplace Carousell on Nov 21, 2024, and struck up a conversation with the girl, who told him that she was 13 years old. She also offered to sell him pictures of herself naked, but he declined the offer. Instead, he asked the girl if she was willing to let him touch her in exchange for cash. and the pair then moved their conversation to WhatsApp to avoid detection from Carousell. The DPP said that the pair later went to the stairwell at around 6.30pm that day, adding: "There, the accused persuaded the victim to allow him (to touch her chest) for 10 to 15 minutes for $50. "After performing the act, he then proceeded to kiss the victim on her lips and touch her genitals over her shorts. After 10 minutes, the timer that the victim had set rang, and she stopped the accused." Kok then tried to persuade the victim to perform a sexual act on him, but she turned down his repeated requests. The pair went down to the ground floor of the block and parted ways. But at around 6.45pm, Kok sent the girl a message asking how she felt when he touched her. He invited her to his home later that evening, offering her $50. She turned down the offer, said the prosecutor. Undeterred, Kok invited the girl to his home again at around 11am the next day. She replied that she was in school at the time. DPP Yeo said: "Later... the accused asked the victim what time she would be able to go to his house the following day. The victim asked him to pay the amount that he owed her from their first arrangement and promised to send him nude pictures of herself when she got home from school." However, Kok replied that he wanted "real action", and the girl later blocked him on WhatsApp. He then deleted her number and their chat log as he did not want his wife to find out about what he had done. Without revealing details, the prosecutor said that the mother of one of the victim's online friends later found out about the incidents. The woman alerted the police in February and Kok was arrested the following month.
