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A Hong Kong court on Thursday sentenced pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong to 10 years in prison for conspiring to collude with foreign forces, his second conviction under the Beijing-imposed national security law. High Court Judge William Tam called the 30-year-old’s actions grave, citing his efforts to enlist international support for sanctions against China and Hong Kong both before and after the law’s enactment in 2020. Wong nodded and bowed in court as the ruling was delivered, according to witnesses at the scene. Supporters had waited outside for days to witness the landmark decision.
The sentence comes as Wong was nearing the end of a four-year-and-eight-month term for subversion linked to a 2020 primary election among opposition candidates. That earlier penalty had been set to conclude in January 2027, but the new term will extend his imprisonment until approximately 2036. According to a Human Rights Watch assessment, the activist has been in custody since November 2020.
Prosecutors told the court that Wong had worked with self-exiled former lawmaker Nathan Law and others to urge foreign governments to impose sanctions, blockades and other hostile measures. The activities spanned from 2016 but focused on the period after the national security law took effect on June 30, 2020. Wong had traveled to the United States to lobby for the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which passed in 2019, and continued advocating similar measures online.
Rights organizations condemned the outcome, with Human Rights Watch stating that the Hong Kong government should immediately and unconditionally release Wong. The group described the national security law as having been used as a political weapon against the 30-year-old protest leader and others. Amnesty International earlier remarked that the charges underscore authorities’ fear of prominent dissidents and the lengths they will go to keep them behind bars.
Official figures indicate the law has led to widespread enforcement, with China’s Ministry of State Security reporting 394 arrests by the six-year mark in June 2026 and 180 convictions. The Hong Kong Security Bureau updated that total to 427 arrests as of early October, including cases under both the national security law and the local safeguarding ordinance. Of those charged, the majority have resulted in convictions or are awaiting sentence, according to available data.
Wong rose to prominence as a teenager during the 2014 Umbrella Movement, co-founding a student group that opposed national education reforms. He later helped establish Demosisto, a political party that disbanded after the security law passed. The activist has faced repeated legal actions since 2017 for his role in various protests and has spent much of the past six years in prison.
