Benjamin Glynn, a 39-year-old father of two, did not wear a mask while taking the train home from work in Singapore.
A fellow traveler secretly filmed it and posted the clip on social media, prompting officers to arrest him hours later.
Glynn, from Helmsley, North Yorkshire, was charged with a crime of public nuisance after spending 28 hours in a cell.
The recruiter claims officers said he faces up to six months behind bars if convicted.
Glynn’s passport was confiscated, meaning that he was unable to return to the UK as planned with his partner and two children, aged five and two.
He also lost a new job due to start in the UK and fears he will have to spend up to 12 months on bail before his trial.
The Office of Foreign, Commonwealth and Development is helping him.
Glynn said: “I had no idea anyone had been filming, but it turned out that a video of me unmasked on the late train home from work appeared online.
“The police obviously saw him and the next day they were at the door.
“I don’t think there is any evidence that masks protect you from Covid-19.
“Normally I would tell people that I am exempt and that I have never raised a problem before.
“But now I am trapped here without my family and I don’t even know when I will appear in court, no matter what my sentence will be.
“All for something I don’t even believe in.”
Glynn had been working for a Singapore branch of a British recruitment firm since January 2017.
Weeks before his return to the UK for a new job, he was filmed without a mask near Raffles Place, Singapore’s financial district, on May 7.
In Singapore, wearing a mask is mandatory when residents leave their homes, with very few exceptions.
“Normally I never wear a mask, but this is the first time it’s been a problem,” he said.
“I had no idea that no one had been filming until the police were at the door; I had not even seen the video because they took it away before I had a chance.”
Police knocked on his door on the night of May 8 and arrested him while his family slept, he said.
Glynn said he was told he was being accused of being a “public nuisance” after he was seen without a mask on a train the day before.
His arrest papers confirm the charge.
The anti-masker spent two days in a holding cell before being released on bail the following Monday.
He said officers have warned him that it could take 12 months for the case to reach trial and that he will face up to six months in jail if convicted.
Glynn, whose family returned to Leeds on May 31, said: “This whole situation is ridiculous.
“I want to leave the country anyway, let me go!
“I think it is insane that I am facing trial, just for not wearing a mask.”
He is now out of work because he had to be transferred to a post in the UK, which has now been revoked.
“It’s a horrible situation to be in when I don’t know when I’ll see my family again,” he said.
“Especially when I don’t even think the masks stop the spread of the virus in the first place.
“I honestly think it is a hoax; I don’t think there is any evidence to show that wearing masks is effective in any way.
“From a scientific basis, I think it is silly.
“But now all I can do is wait.”
A spokesman for the Singapore Police said: “As the information related to the police investigations is confidential in nature, we are unable to comment further on the case.”
A spokesman for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “We are assisting a British man who is awaiting trial in Singapore and we have been in contact with the local police about his case.”
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Source: www.yorkshirepost.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-06-17 23:08:09