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 Thursday for conspiracy to collude with foreign forces under the city’s national security law.

Judge William Tam described the offence as grave. He set a starting point of 13 years and reduced it by three years because Wong pleaded guilty in September and offered mitigation. The new term runs concurrently with the remaining months of Wong’s earlier sentence for subversion in the Hong Kong 47 case. Wong, now 30, has been in custody since November 2020. He was due for release in January 2027. The concurrent portion means his expected release moves to late 2036.

Prosecutors said Wong worked with self-exiled activist Nathan Law and others between July and November 2020. They sought foreign sanctions, blockades or other hostile measures against Hong Kong and China after Beijing imposed the national security law in June 2020. The court found Wong supplied underground support and amplified calls on social media while remaining in the city. Tam said the scheme aimed to endanger national security and that the punishment must reflect the community’s abhorrence of such acts.

Wong rose to prominence as a teenager during the 2014 Umbrella Movement. He co-founded Scholarism and later Demosisto. The national security law, imposed after the 2019 protests, criminalises secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign collusion. Rights groups and foreign governments have called the law a tool to silence opposition. Beijing and Hong Kong authorities say it restored stability after months of unrest.

Wong already serves four years and eight months for his role in the unofficial primary election case. The new sentence is the second under the security law. Supporters outside the court waved as he left. Former Scholarism member Tiffany Chin was among those present. Police National Security Department Chief Superintendent Steve Li said Wong had participated in social movements from a young age and hoped he would reflect on his actions.

The case continues a pattern of prosecutions that have removed most opposition figures from public life. Several dozen activists and former lawmakers remain imprisoned or in exile. The Hong Kong government has not commented publicly beyond the court proceedings. The sentence leaves open questions about the remaining space for political dissent in the city and the practical effect of concurrent terms on long-serving prisoners.