HONG KONG — Prominent Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong was sentenced to 10 years in prison Thursday for his second conviction under a Beijing-imposed national security law, in a case that critics say reflects the crackdown on the city's once-thriving pro-democracy movement. Wong was charged in 2025 with conspiracy to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security under the law. In September, he pleaded guilty to the offense, a move that can typically reduce the sentence.
The 30-year-old is already serving a four-year, eight-month prison term for the city's biggest national security case linked to an unofficial primary after entering a guilty plea in that case. Before being prosecuted for the collusion-related charge, Wong had been expected to be freed in January 2027. Judge William Tam said during the sentencing hearing that Wong's offense was of a grave nature and rejected that his role was limited.
He also said he considered a 13-year prison sentence as a starting point but reduced it because of Wong's guilty plea. Wong looked calm and thanked his supporters before leaving the court. His supporters waved to him and Tiffany Chin, a former member of the now-disbanded Scholarism, once led by Wong, was in tears.
The judge said Wong could serve his two prison sentences concurrently. Wong only has about two months left on the sentence for his previous national security conviction. Resident ET Wong said that when Joshua Wong was just teenager, he possessed "big-picture thinking" that some adults might not even have.
He walked a difficult path for Hong Kong's future, human rights and student movement, she said. "At least in my heart, he should not have spent a single day in wrongful imprisonment," she said. Hong Kong once had a freewheeling civil society marked by its vibrant protest and media scenes.
But after an anti-government movement rocked the city in 2019, authorities reduced public choice in elections and arrested many leading activists. Some news outlets known for their reports critical of the government shut down, and dozens of civil society groups dissolved. Observers say Wong's sentencing shows the authorities' determination to keep prominent activists in prison for as long as possible, further chilling civic activism.
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