Hong Kong jails Joshua Wong for 10 years in second security-law case
Seven Lights
A Hong Kong court on Thursday sentenced Joshua Wong to 10 years in prison for conspiring with foreign forces to endanger national security, the second security-law conviction for the activist who first drew attention as a schoolboy.
High Court judge William Tam described Mr Wong’s conduct as “grave in nature”. He said Mr Wong had travelled to the United States to seek foreign interference before the national security law took effect in 2020, and had continued after its passage to share posts by the exiled activist Nathan Law calling for sanctions. Mr Wong’s role, the judge said, was to “supply his underground support” and “arouse the attention of foreign countries to bolster the cause”, as part of a scheme to collude with foreign governments. The new sentence will run concurrently with the remainder of Mr Wong’s previous security-law term.
Mr Wong, 30, pleaded guilty in September to colluding with foreign powers. He was accused with Mr Law of urging foreign governments to impose sanctions, blockades or other hostile measures against China. He has been in prison since 2020 and is the only activist prosecuted twice under the law, which critics say has been used to silence political opposition.
Mr Wong wore a dark blue shirt and thick-rimmed spectacles in court, nodding and bowing as supporters waved. A prison van believed to be carrying him arrived at the High Court surrounded by photographers.
He rose to prominence as the teenage face of the 2014 pro-democracy demonstrations known as the Umbrella Movement, and became one of the most recognisable figures of the 2019 protest wave before his first conviction.
Mr Law said in a statement: “It’s incredibly sad to see my friend Joshua Wong suffer another sentencing over his peaceful advocacy work for Hong Kong’s democracy.” The signal, he added, was that China “is determined to quash any hopes for freedom and democracy on its soil”. Amnesty International’s deputy regional director, Sarah Brooks, said the sentence was “another grim reminder of how Hong Kong’s national security law has become a tool to punish dissent rather than to genuinely protect national security”.
The ruling closes the case over the sanctions campaign. Mr Wong will serve the new term alongside the remainder of his earlier sentence, extending an imprisonment that began when he was first jailed in 2020.