A Hong Kong court on Thursday sentenced prominent pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong to 10 years in prison for conspiring to collude with foreign forces under the Beijing-imposed national security law, the BBC, Associated Press and The Guardian reported.
Wong, 30, pleaded guilty in September. Prosecutors said he worked with self-exiled activist Nathan Law between July and November 2020 to lobby for foreign sanctions and other hostile measures against China and Hong Kong.
High Court Judge William Tam described the offence as “grave in nature.” Two months and two days of the new term will run concurrently with the subversion sentence Wong is already serving; he had been due for release early next year before the latest charges.
Chief Executive John Lee called Wong and Law among the “primary culprits” undermining Hong Kong’s stability. Beijing’s foreign ministry said it firmly supported the city in safeguarding national security.
The United Kingdom and the US consulate in Hong Kong condemned the sentence. Human Rights Watch called it “cruel and unjust,” saying authorities were stacking charges against influential opposition figures. Wong rose to prominence as a teenage leader of the 2014 Umbrella Movement.
BBC News, Associated Press, The Guardian
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Wong, who co-founded the now-defunct Demosisto party, has been imprisoned repeatedly since the 2019 protests. Friends abroad said the sentence was meant to rewrite a chapter of Hong Kong’s history. Only media tycoon Jimmy Lai has received a harsher national-security collusion sentence, of 20 years.
Sources: BBC News, Associated Press, The Guardian
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