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Prominent Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Thursday for his second conviction under a Beijing-imposed national security law, in a case that critics say reflects the backlash of the city’s once-thriving pro-democracy movement.
Wong was indicted in 2025 for conspiring to collaborate with foreign forces to endanger national security under the Act. In September, he pleaded guilty to the offense, a move that usually can reduce the sentence.
The 30-year-old is already serving a four-year, eight-month sentence for the city’s biggest national security case after entering a guilty plea. Before he was prosecuted on the collusion-related charge, Wong was expected to be released in January 2027.
Judge William Tam said during sentencing that Wong’s offense was of a grave nature and denied that his role was limited. He also said he considered a 13-year prison sentence as a starting point but reduced it because of Wong’s guilty plea.
Wong looked calm and thanked his supporters before leaving the court. His supporters waved to 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 terms concurrently. Wong only has about two months left on the sentence for his previous national security conviction.
Supporters go to court
Some members of the public already started queuing outside the courthouse on Tuesday to secure a seat in the public gallery. Activist Lui Yuk-lin held up a piece of paper with Wong’s name on the line on Thursday.
Resident ET Wong said that when Joshua Wong was just a teenager, he possessed “big picture thinking” that some adults don’t even have. He walked a hard path for the future of Hong Kong, human rights and the student movement, she said.
“At least in my heart, he should not spend a single day in false prison,” she said.
People line up outside Hong Kong’s Supreme Court ahead of Thursday morning’s verdict.(Tyrone Siu/Reuters)
Terrifying dissent
Hong Kong once had a freewheeling civil society characterized by its vibrant protest and media scenes. But after an anti-government movement shook the city in 2019, authorities reduced public choice in elections and arrested many leading activists. Some news outlets known for their reports critical of the government closed down and dozens of civil society groups dissolved.
Observers say Wong’s sentencing shows the authorities’ determination to keep prominent activists in prison for as long as possible, further chilling civil activism.
“NSL charges can be repeatedly weaponized to keep a specific political prisoner in prison if the government deems it necessary,” said Eric Lai, a research fellow at the Georgetown Center for Asian Law, referring to the national security law.
But Beijing sees Wong as an anti-China figure who supports Hong Kong independence, a stance that crosses its red line. Hong Kong authorities have also said that the security law is crucial to the stability of the city after the 2019 protests, claiming that the city’s law enforcement actions are based on evidence.
Wong, second from left, with activists Eddie Chu, Owen Chow and Lester Shum, poses with signs in support of the 12 Hong Kong activists detained in mainland China after they tried to flee the city for Taiwan, in Hong Kong, on October 20, 2020.(Lam Yik/Reuters)
Prosecutors focused on Wong’s lobbying and advocacy
Prosecutors previously alleged that Wong and fellow activist Nathan Law had agreed in or around 2016 to lobby internationally to achieve their goal of democratic self-determination. It said that before the security law was introduced, the pair called for sanctions and other negative measures against Hong Kong and China. It pointed to his meetings with US politicians such as Nancy Pelosi and Marco Rubio in 2016 and 2019.
After the law was passed, Law and others advanced their work abroad by meeting foreign politicians and launching petition drives, it said. Wong supported Hong Kong’s effort through foreign media and social media to draw the attention of foreign countries and strengthen the request for sanctions, blockade or other hostile measures against China and Hong Kong, it said.
His lawyer Derek Chan earlier urged the court to impose a sentence that would give his client some hope, adding that Wong wants to take care of his parents after his release.
Sebastien Lai, son of pro-democracy former Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, tells Power & Politics China has imprisoned his father’s body “but they haven’t imprisoned his mind,” as Beijing hands down a 20-year sentence to the 78-year-old under China’s internationally scrutinized national security law. Plus, Irwin Cotler, Canadian international legal adviser to Jimmy Lai, says the implications of the sentence are severe for democracy.
His friends said during his nearly six years in prison, Wong read books and exercised, teaching himself guitar while maturing in his thinking.
To his supporters, Wong is a political star who represents a younger generation born in the last years of Hong Kong’s British colonial rule before the city returned to China in 1997.
Although 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 report criticized a 2017 documentary about Wong on Netflix for “beautifying” his crimes. The city’s security office told local media that the government is taking follow-up action.
But the documentary then shot to the top of the popular Netflix chart in Hong Kong.
