British man to be deported from Singapore over face mask rule break
A British man faces deportation from Singapore after being jailed for refusing to wear a face mask.
Benjamin Glynn, a 40-year-old man for Yorkshire, was convicted on Wednesday and sentenced to six weeks jail time. He has been released a day later due to time served while he was in detention which included two weeks in a mental health institution according to Singaporean police.
Glynn, who has been working for the Singaporean branch of a British Company since 2017, was found guilty on four counts during Wednesday’s hearing. The charges including not wearing a mask on an MRT train, causing a public nuisance, threatening police officers and failing to wear a mask within the vicinity of the courts.
The accusations date back to May when Glynn was arrested after footage of him not wearing a face mask on an MRT train went viral. According to Officers Glynn resisted the arrest and adopted a threatening stance.
When asked about the incident, Glynn claimed he could not remember it and said: “I was pretty drunk…I would be very surprised if I did something like that.” The presiding District Judge described the defence as “woefully insufficient to raise a reasonable doubt.”
During the hearing, Glynn defended his “God-given rights” not to wear a face covering, saying “I am standing up for my kids, so they do not have to cover their face.”
He reportedly broke down later in the hearing and asked to be allowed to return to his family and to have his passport returned by the Singaporean authorities.
Singapore has some of the strictest face mask rules in the world and all adults over the age of six are required to wear masks when leaving their homes.
According to Reuters, the Singaporean Police Service have confirmed Glynn is being processed by the country’s immigration authority which is making arrangements for his deportation.
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