Amos Yee, the teenage Singaporean blogger jailed twice for posts denigrating religion and the country’s late founding leader Lee Kuan Yew, has been detained in the United States while trying to seek political asylum.
Melissa Chen, a US-based Singaporean civil activist involved in Yee’s asylum bid told This Week in Asia that Yee, 18, had been detained after landing at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport on December 16.
Chen said Yee was being detained at McHenry County Jail near Chicago and that she last spoke with him by video link late on Thursday.
She said Yee had entered the US with a tourist visa, but was detained following a secondary screening in which he told border control officers he was seeking asylum.
Yee’s mother, Mary Toh, said she had been told of his detention by a US-based legal team who Yee had approached.
Activist Chen said Yee had first contacted her about an asylum bid earlier this year.
Phil Robertson, the Asia deputy director of the New York-based Human Rights Watch, said the group had also been made aware of Yee’s detention.
http://www.scmp.com/week-asia/socie...rean-blogger-detained-us-while-seeking-asylum
