Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong sentenced to 10 years in second national security case

Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, 30, was sentenced on Thursday to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security — his second conviction under the national security law Beijing imposed on the city in 2020.

Judge William Tam, who heard the case, said the offence was grave in nature and rejected the argument that Wong's role had been a limited one. He said he had taken 13 years as a starting point before reducing the term to account for the guilty plea Wong entered in September. Under Hong Kong court practice, a guilty plea typically attracts a discount in sentence.

Wong was charged in 2025. He is already serving a four-year, eight-month sentence imposed in the city's largest national security prosecution, which arose from an unofficial primary election among opposition candidates. Before the collusion charge was brought, he had been expected to be released in January 2027. The judge ruled that the two sentences could run concurrently; Wong has around two months left to serve on the earlier term.

Wong appeared calm in court and thanked his supporters as he left. Supporters waved to him, and Tiffany Chin, a former member of the now-disbanded student group Scholarism that Wong once led, was in tears. E.T. Wong, a Hong Kong resident, said Wong had shown a "big-picture" understanding as a teenager that some adults did not possess, and had walked a difficult path for the city's future and for human rights. "At least in my heart, he should not have spent a single day in wrongful imprisonment," she said.

Hong Kong was once known for a freewheeling civil society, with a lively protest movement and a combative media. After anti-government protests shook the city in 2019, authorities changed the electoral system, arrested many leading activists, and several news outlets known for reporting critical of the government shut down. Dozens of civil society groups disbanded.

Observers say the sentence indicates that the authorities intend to keep prominent activists in custody for as long as possible, and that it will further discourage civic activism. "NSL charges can be repeatedly weaponized to keep a specific political prisoner in jail, if the government deems necessary," said Eric Lai, a research fellow at the Georgetown Center for Asian Law, using the abbreviation for the national security law.

Beijing takes a different view. It regards Wong as an anti-China figure who supports Hong Kong independence, a position it says crosses a red line. Hong Kong authorities say the security law has been essential to restoring stability after the 2019 unrest, and maintain that enforcement actions are evidence-based.

Prosecutors alleged that Wong and fellow activist Nathan Law agreed in or around 2016 to lobby overseas to advance their goal of democratic self-determination. They said the pair had called for sanctions and other adverse measures against Hong Kong and China before the security law existed, pointing to meetings with US politicians including Nancy Pelosi and Marco Rubio in 2016 and 2019. After the law took effect, prosecutors said, others continued the work abroad by meeting foreign politicians and organising petition drives, while Wong supported the effort from Hong Kong through foreign media and social media to draw international attention and press for sanctions, a blockade or other hostile measures against China and Hong Kong.

Wong's lawyer, Derek Chan, had urged the court to impose a sentence that would leave his client some hope, saying Wong wished to care for his parents after his release.

The national security law, enacted in 2020, provides for penalties of up to life imprisonment for collusion with foreign forces. Hong Kong's government has said the legislation is central to its work of safeguarding stability, while rights groups and several foreign governments have said it has narrowed the space for political dissent in the city.