By Salma El-Sakka
Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for colluding with foreign forces under the city’s national security law, the latest in a series of convictions that have kept the 30-year-old behind bars for the past six years.
Court proceedings and sentence details
Wong appeared in court on Thursday wearing a dark blue shirt, khaki trousers and black-rimmed glasses. He nodded to supporters in a packed public gallery while the judge read the sentencing reasons. Two months and two days of the 10-year term will run concurrently with his existing 56-month sentence for subversion, which was due to end early next year. Wong pleaded guilty to the collusion charges in September.
Prosecution allegations
Prosecutors said Wong conspired with fellow activist Nathan Law, who is in self-exile, to lobby for foreign sanctions and blockades against Beijing between July and November 2020. Both were co-founders of the now-defunct pro-democracy party Demosisto.
Activism and previous convictions
Wong’s activism began at age 14 when he co-founded the student group Scholarism, which successfully opposed mandatory “patriotic education” in 2012. He later became a prominent figure in the 2014 Umbrella Movement and co-founded Demosisto in 2016. Since 2020, he has been convicted multiple times, including for protests outside police headquarters in 2019 and for conspiracy to commit subversion as part of the “Hong Kong 47” case.
International reaction
Rights group Amnesty International said the sentence underscores authorities’ fear of prominent dissidents and the lengths they will go to keep them imprisoned. The harshest national security law sentence to date was handed to former media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who received 20 years for collusion with foreign forces.
