A Singapore court sentenced 17-year-old blogger Amos Yee to six weeks in jail on Thursday for "intentionally wounding religious feelings", drawing criticism from a number of rights groups.



According to Channel News Asia, Yee pleaded guilty to six charges of deliberately posting comments on the internet in videos, blog posts and a picture that were critical of Christianity and Islam. In addition to his prison sentence, Yee was ordered to pay $2,000 for defying two notices to turn up at a police station to give his statement.



"(Yee) is not lacking in his mental capacity to make rational choices in the way he conducts himself," Principal District Judge Ong Hian Sun said, adding that he "deliberately elected to do harm by using offensive and insulting words and profane gestures to hurt the feelings of Christians and Muslims".



The blogger's "contemptuous and irreverent remarks" undermines the religious harmony in Singapore, and his conduct "should not be condoned or tolerated", the judge said.



Judge Ong also said he hoped the punishment, while not overly harsh, would be enough to deter Yee from re-offending. "Hopefully we will not have (Yee) appearing again in this court for the same offence in the future," the judge said.

