Lee Kuan Yew death: Singapore police arrest 17-year-old for inflammatory YouTube video

A 17-year-old Singaporean teenager has been arrested by the Singapore police for posting a YouTube video criticising Lee Kuan Yew and making insensitive comments about Christianity.

The eight-minute-long YouTube video, entitled "Lee Kuan Yew is finally dead!" was uploaded by the student on 27 March and contains inflammatory comments, such as "Lee Kuan Yew was a horrible person, because everyone is scared, and everyone is afraid that if they say something like that, they will get into trouble".

In the video, the teenager launched into a tirade where he complained about Singapore being a police state and blamed the Lee family for making the people afraid to speak out about how they feel.

At one point in the video, his comments likened Lee Kuan Yew, who passed away on 23 March, to Jesus Christ in a derogatory way. He also challenged Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to sue him for his comments.

Contravening Singapore law

His remarks breach the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act (MRHA), a Singapore statute that prevents citizens from attempting to incite feelings of enmity, hatred, ill-will or hostility between different religious groups in the country, as well as the Sedition Act, where "seditious words or acts" that could foster feelings of ill-will and hostility between various races are prohibited.

The student's comments also contravene Section 298A of the Penal Code, which prohibits citizens from committing "any act which he knows is prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between different religious or racial groups and which disturbs or is likely to disturb the public tranquillity".

The Singapore Police Force has confirmed to IBTimes UK that the teenager has been arrested but is not releasing any further details at this time.

According to the Straits Times, over 20 police reports were filed by members of the public to the Singapore police over the weekend after the video was uploaded. The video and the blog post it accompanied have both been taken down, but copies of the video still exist on YouTube.

One of the police reports was lodged by Singapore lawyer Chia Boon Teck, who told the Guardian: "The individual had said many things against Mr Lee and the government that are defamatory under the penal code as well as in violation of the sedition act. His utterances against Christians also amounted to a 'deliberate intent to wound religious feelings' under the penal code.

"There is a limit to freedom of speech. If the line separating freedom and offence is crossed, the person will have to face the consequences."