FILE – Hong Kong teenage student leader Joshua Wong, left, stands in front of yellow umbrellas outside a Hong Kong magistrate’s court, September 2, 2015.
Vincent Yu/AP
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Vincent Yu/AP
HONG KONG — Prominent Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison for his second conviction under a Beijing-imposed national security law, in a case that critics say reflects a crackdown on the city’s once-thriving pro-democracy movement.
Wong was charged in 2025 with conspiring to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security under the law. In September, he pleaded guilty to the offense, a move that can usually reduce the sentence.
The 30-year-old is already serving a four-year, eight-month prison sentence for the city’s biggest national security case tied to an unofficial primary after pleading guilty in the case. Before being prosecuted for collusion, Wong was scheduled to be released in January 2027.
Judge William Tam told the sentencing hearing that Wong’s offending was serious in nature and denied his role was limited.
He also said he was considering a 13-year prison sentence as a starting point, but reduced it due to Wong’s guilty plea.
Wong looked calm and thanked his supporters before leaving the field. His supporters waved at him and Tiffany Chin, a former member of the now-disbanded Scholarism, once led by Wong, was in tears.
The judge said Wong could serve his two prison sentences concurrently. Wong has about two months remaining on his previous national security conviction.
Resident ET Wong said that when Joshua Wong was just a teenager, he possessed a “big picture vision” that some adults may not even have had. He has traveled a difficult path for the future of Hong Kong, human rights and the student movement, she said.
“At least in my heart, he should not have spent a single day in wrongful imprisonment,” she said.
Wong’s convictions seen as discouraging dissent
Hong Kong once had a free civil society, marked by its vibrant media and protest scenes. But after an anti-government movement rocked the city in 2019, authorities narrowed the public’s choices in elections and arrested many high-profile activists. Some media outlets known for reporting critical of the government have closed their doors and dozens of civil society groups have been disbanded.
FILE – Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong speaks to reporters at the Legislative Council building in Hong Kong, November 28, 2019.
Kin Cheung/AP
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Kin Cheung/AP
Observers say Wong’s conviction shows the authorities’ determination to keep high-profile activists in prison for as long as possible, further chilling civic activism.
“NSL charges can be used repeatedly to keep a specific political prisoner in prison, if the government deems it necessary,” said Eric Lai, a researcher at the Georgetown Center for Asian Law, referring to the national security law.
But Beijing views Wong as an anti-China figure supporting Hong Kong’s independence, a position that crosses its red line. Hong Kong authorities also said the security law was crucial to the city’s stability after the 2019 protests, saying the city’s steps to enforce the law were based on evidence.
Prosecution highlights Wong’s lobbying and advocacy efforts
The prosecution previously alleged that Wong and fellow activist Nathan Law agreed around 2016 to engage in international lobbying to achieve their goal of democratic self-determination. He said that before the security law was introduced, both men had called for sanctions and other negative measures against Hong Kong and China. He talks about his meetings with American politicians like Nancy Pelosi and Marco Rubio in 2016 and 2019.
After the law was signed into law, Law and others advanced their work overseas by meeting with foreign politicians and launching petitions, the statement said. Wong supported Hong Kong’s efforts through foreign media and social media to attract the attention of foreign countries and strengthen the demand for sanctions, blockades or other hostile measures against China and Hong Kong, he added.
His lawyer, Derek Chan, had urged the court to impose a sentence that would give his client some hope, adding that Wong wanted to take care of his parents after his release.
His friends said that during his nearly six years in prison, Wong continued to read books and exercise, teaching himself guitar while maturing in his thinking.
For his supporters, Wong is a political star representing a younger generation born in the final years of British colonial rule in Hong Kong, before the city’s return to China in 1997.
Despite being held behind bars, Wong’s influence appears to have remained a concern, at least for the pro-Beijing camp.
In September, a pro-Beijing newspaper article criticized a 2017 Netflix documentary about Wong for “embellishing” his crimes. The city security office told local media that the government was taking follow-up measures.
But the documentary later rose to the top of Netflix’s popular rankings in Hong Kong.
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