Teen blogger Amos Yee, who stoked controversy with rants on Singapore's national icon and former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, has been sentenced to six weeks in prison on charges of offending religious feelings.
A court in Singapore awarded a 38-day prison sentence to the 17-year-old after he pleaded guilty to six charges of "wounding religious feelings" of Muslims and Christians.
Yee, who was accused of causing social unrest, will also have to pay $1,400 in fines.
A photograph and two videos Yee posted on the web had "offensive and insulting words and profane gestures to hurt the feelings of Christians and Muslims," presiding judge Ong Hian Sun said.
The court said Yee "deliberately elected to do harm". "(Yee) has, on several occasions, deliberately elected to do harm by using offensive and insulting words and profane gestures to hurt the feelings of Christians and Muslims. His contemptuous and irreverent remarks have the tendency to generate social unrest and undermine the religious harmony in our society," the judge added.
The teen blogger, who appeared remorseful at the court, added a tinge or humour in his Twitter comments on the verdict.
"Know what, I am getting sick of my long hair after 2 years, I think I'll cut it short.
Fortunately for me they offer free haircuts in prison," he wrote on the micro blogging platform.
"Got my sentence for 'intending to wound religious feelings': 38 days of prison. Going in on the 13th of October," he added.
Earlier, appearing with his mother at the court, Yee had said the punishment was fair. "I am very remorseful", he added.
Yee's trial was closely watched by UN Human Rights Council and the European Union.
Singapore's strict laws relating to defamation caught up with Yee for the first time when he published a YouTube video criticizing Christianity and the country's first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew. He was arrested in March 2015.
Yee was the crosshairs of the law again when he uploaded incriminating photo and two videos online between April 17 and May 19.
The prosecution argued Yee had a previous brush with the law for a similar offence and that he "deliberately upped the ante" by escalating the offensiveness of the material which he created.
Yee spent about 50 days in prison following his arrest last year after the rant on Lee Kuan Yew.
