Singapore teen in trouble again for re-posting anti-Lee video

Singapore: Singapore prosecutors on Wednesday demanded that a rebellious teenager be sent to a reformatory after he re-posted a controversial video attacking the late independence leader Lee Kuan Yew.

Amos Yee, 16, currently on bail after being convicted of two criminal charges, had been expected to avoid confinement after agreeing to take the video off YouTube, where it has generated more than one million views.

Prosecutors initially recommended probation but hardened their position in a closed-door hearing Wednesday.

"The offender`s behaviour, especially in re-posting the offending material after his conviction on 12 May 2015, amplifies the need for rehabilitation and appropriate counselling," the Attorney-General`s Chambers (AGC) said in a statement after the hearing.

The AGC asked the judge to commit Yee, who has also refused to meet his probation officer, to a special reform programme which involves being held with other minors -- including some involved in gang activity.

Yee was found guilty of having hurt religious feelings in the video posted after Lee`s death on March 23.

He likened Singapore`s founding prime minister to Jesus in an expletive-laden monologue. 

He was also found guilty of circulating obscene content -- a graphic cartoon involving Lee and late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. 

The AGC said it asked the judge to explore sentencing Yee to reformative training, which it described as "a rehabilitative sentencing option for young offenders who are aged between 16 and 18 years old and assessed to be unsuitable for probation". 

"Reformative Training Centre is not jail," the AGC insisted, adding that young offenders sentenced to such a programme have no contact with adult prison inmates. 

Offenders sentenced to undergo the programme are detained for a minimum 18 months, according to the AGC. 

In the eight-minute video titled "Lee Kuan Yew is finally dead", Yee described the former leader as a "horrible person", saying he and Jesus "are both power-hungry and malicious but deceive others into thinking they are compassionate and kind".

Lee, who was in power for 31 years, died on March 23 aged 91 and was given a state funeral that saw an unprecedented public outpouring of grief.