Hong Kong Court Sentences Joshua Wong to 10 Years for Foreign Collusion

Joshua Wong, the activist who became the best-known face of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests, was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison for conspiring to collude with foreign forces under the national security law Beijing imposed in 2020. High Court Judge William Tam handed down the term after Wong pleaded guilty in September, RTHK and the BBC reported.

How the judge reached 10 years

Tam called the offense “grave” in nature and set a starting point of 13 years, according to RTHK, the city’s public broadcaster. He cut three years for the guilty plea and mitigation, arriving at 10 years, which RTHK said is the statutory minimum for a grave offense under the law. Only two months and two days of the new term will run at the same time as the sentence Wong is already serving.

Prosecutors said Wong worked with self-exiled activist Nathan Law, a fellow co-founder of the now-defunct Demosisto party, to press foreign governments for sanctions and blockades against Beijing between July and late November 2020, the BBC reported. The judge said Wong had visited the United States to seek foreign intervention before the law took effect and later shared Law’s posts calling for sanctions, according to The Guardian.

Release pushed back by a decade

Wong, 30, is already serving four years and eight months for conspiracy to commit subversion over an unofficial 2020 primary election. He had been due for release in January 2027, The Guardian reported. The Guardian said he is the only Hong Kong activist prosecuted twice under the security law. The Associated Press reported the case was his second conviction under it.

Law called the sentence “incredibly sad” in a statement and said it showed Beijing “is determined to quash any hopes for freedom and democracy.” Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director, said the law “has become a tool to punish dissent.” Steve Li, chief superintendent of the Hong Kong police National Security Department, told reporters he hoped Wong would reflect on his wrongdoings in prison, RTHK reported. A group of foreign diplomats attended the hearing, according to The Guardian.

Sources: RTHK, BBC News, The Guardian, Associated Press.