Man jailed for inciting violence online
SINGAPORE, Sept 15 — A man with the "dubious distinction" of being the first to be found guilty here of inciting violence has been sentenced to two months in jail, after a successful appeal by the prosecution for a tougher sentence.
In passing sentence yesterday on former ST Kinetics engineer Gary Yue Mun Yew, High Court Judge Quentin Loh said "a stiff sentence" was warranted to deter "behaviour which has the potential to be injurious to public order and safety".
Yue, 36, was fined S$8,500 (RM21,161) in March for two acts committed in 2010. He had posted a link to a video clip of former Egypt President Anwar Sadat's assassination on Temasek Review's Facebook page, accompanied by the comment: "We should reenact a live version of this on our grandstand during our national's (sic) parade!!!!!!"
He had also posted on his Facebook page a doctored photograph of a Vietnamese police chief executing former Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng, whose head and a People's Action Party logo were superimposed on the original photo.
Convicting him in March, District Judge Low Wee Ping had found that Yue had intended the post to contain an incitement to violence. But he concluded that Yue had not intended to incite violence, as he had made the post out of "angst", and had been psychiatrically assessed to be "attention-seeking".
Justice Loh said yesterday he was unable to discern the distinction drawn by the District Judge. Justice Loh also found "direct and undisputed evidence" that Yue "intended to incite violence".
The fact that no one was incited to violence could not be part of sentencing considerations, he added. — Today
