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

Hong Kong’s High Court sentenced pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong to 10 years in prison on November 5, 2026, on a charge of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces under the city’s national security law. Judge William Tam described the offence as grave and set a starting point of 13 years before reducing the term by three years for the guilty plea and mitigation. Two months and two days of the new sentence will run concurrently with the term Wong is already serving.

Wong, now 30, pleaded guilty in September. Prosecutors alleged that between July and November 2020 he conspired with self-exiled activist Nathan Law and others to request foreign governments, organisations or individuals to impose sanctions, blockades or other hostile measures against the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region or the People’s Republic of China. The judge said Wong supplied “underground support” and sought to draw foreign attention to the cause after the national security law took effect on June 30, 2020.

Wong has been in custody since November 2020. He is already serving a four-year, eight-month sentence from the 2024 “Hong Kong 47” case involving an unofficial primary election. He had been due for release in January 2027. The new term pushes his expected release to late 2036. Supporters outside the court waved as he left. Tiffany Chin, a former member of Scholarism, the student group Wong once led, was among those present and in tears.

Police National Security Department Chief Superintendent Steve Li told reporters that Wong had participated in social movements from a young age and committed offences as an adult. Li said he hoped Wong would reflect on his actions. The national security law, imposed by Beijing in 2020 after months of protests, carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment for the collusion offence. Rights groups have tracked the law’s use against opposition figures, journalists and civil society organisations.

Wong first gained international attention as a teenager during the 2014 Umbrella Movement. He co-founded Scholarism and later the now-disbanded Demosisto party. He visited the United States before the national security law’s introduction and continued to share posts by Law calling for sanctions after the law took effect. The court treated these actions as part of a coordinated scheme rather than isolated statements.

Beijing has defended the national security law as necessary to restore stability after the 2019 protests. Hong Kong officials have stated that the law targets a small number of people who endanger national security and does not affect ordinary residents. International governments and human rights organisations have criticised the law and the series of prosecutions that followed its enactment, arguing that it has narrowed the space for political opposition and free expression that existed under the “one country, two systems” framework.

The sentence is the second major national security conviction for Wong. Combined with the earlier term, he faces more than a decade of additional imprisonment. The case continues a pattern in which figures associated with the 2014 and 2019 protest movements have received lengthy sentences after guilty pleas or trials. Several other prominent activists remain in custody or have left the city.

Local media reported a heavy police presence around the court on the morning of the sentencing. Wong appeared calm in a blue shirt and black glasses and nodded to supporters. The judgment emphasised the need for the sentence to reflect the community’s abhorrence of collusion with external elements. Whether the concurrent portion and mitigation factors will be applied exactly as stated will become clear when the formal order is issued.