Amos Yee charged in Singapore court over 2016 National Service enlistment offences after being deported from US

21/03/2026 1 Views

SINGAPORE: Amos Yee was hauled to court on March 20 and handed three charges under the Enlistment Act. He was not granted bail.

Yee, 27, a child sex offender, was deported from the United States on March 19.

He appeared in court via video-link at around 11.50am with long hair, wearing a long-sleeved black shirt.

The prosecution made an application for Yee to be remanded in Changi Prison for further investigations, which the judge granted.

Yee told the court he will not be engaging a lawyer.

According to charge sheets, Yee was a person subject to the Enlistment Act, but allegedly left Singapore without a valid exit permit from Dec 15, 2016, to March 19, 2026, for a period of nine years, three months and four days.

He is also accused of failing to report for medical screening from April 26, 2016, to March 19, 2026.

Yee also allegedly left Singapore without a valid exit permit from Dec 13, 2015, to April 19, 2016, which is a period of over four months.

His case will be heard again on March 26.

In the lead-up to his deportation, Yee had been transferred to various US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities, with the most recent being on March 18, when he was sent to the Broadview Service Staging Area in Illinois.

His record on the ICE website was expunged on March 19, and a representative confirmed to The Straits Times by phone on the morning of March 20 that Yee “was removed from the US” on March 19, Singapore time.

Yee failed to report for NS pre-enlistment medical screening and remained outside the country without a valid exit permit after leaving for the US in December 2016 to seek asylum.

Offenders who flout NS enlistment rules can face a fine of up to S$10,000 (US$7,811), a jail term of up to three years, or both.

The Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement on March 20 that enlistment inspectors from the Central Manpower Base arrested Yee upon his arrival at Changi Airport.

Since he is still a Singapore citizen, he was deported to the Republic, the statement said.

The authorities had issued him a document of identity to facilitate his return, in lieu of a valid Singapore passport, which he no longer holds.

Yee fled to the US after repeated run-ins with the law in Singapore over controversial comments that were derogatory to Christians and Muslims.

In March 2018, he was granted asylum, and in September that year, was released from ICE detention.

Two years later, he was indicted by a grand jury in an Illinois court for solicitation and possession of child pornography.

He had exchanged nude photos and messages with a 14-year-old girl from Texas while he was in Chicago, and was sentenced on Dec 2, 2021.

Barely halfway into his six-year jail term, he was released on parole on Oct 7, 2023, but re-arrested the following month.

While the reason behind this is unknown, it is believed that he had broken the terms of his parole.

These included restrictions, such as not being allowed to use the Internet without approval from the state corrections department, and not being permitted to be near a place where children would be, unless the department allowed it. – The Straits Times/ANN

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