Teenage blogger Amos Yee has been granted asylum in the United States, his lawyer said Saturday.
On December 16, the 18-year-old was stopped from entering the country by border control officers after they found out about his plans to seek asylum.
He has since been in incarceration in a detention facility in Chicago.
In a statement to the media, Sandra Grossman who acted as Yee’s pro-bono lawyer in the US said the Honorable Immigration Judge Samuel B. Cole granted Amos Yee’s asylum application,
“Judge Cole concluded that the Singapore government persecuted Yee on account of his political opinion and that Yee is deserving of asylum as a matter of discretion.”
Yee, who has been in US immigration detention for more than 90 days, is now immediately eligible for release.
“He was very pleased with the outcome and pleasantly surprised. He will hopefully be released on Monday,” Grossman told This Week in Asia.