Hong Kong democracy campaigner Joshua Wong has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for conspiring to collude with foreign forces, in his second conviction under the city’s national security law.
The High Court sentenced the 30-year-old on Thursday, 5 November, after he pleaded guilty in September. Wong was already serving a four-year and eight-month sentence in a separate national security case concerning an unofficial opposition primary election.
Judge William Tam said the latest offence was of a grave nature and rejected the suggestion that Wong’s role was limited. He took 13 years as the starting point for the sentence and reduced it to 10 years in light of the guilty plea.
The judge said the new sentence would run concurrently with the remainder of Wong’s existing term. Before the new prosecution, Wong had been expected to be released in January 2027. The ruling extends his time in custody well beyond that date.
The case before the court
Wong pleaded guilty to conspiring to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security. The charge concerned the period from 1 July to 23 November 2020 and named fellow activist Nathan Law, who is overseas, and other people whose identities were unknown.
Prosecutors accused Wong and the others of asking foreign countries or bodies outside China to impose sanctions or blockades, or take other hostile action, against the Hong Kong and Chinese governments.
In presenting the case, the prosecution described international lobbying by Wong and Law before the national security law took effect. Prosecutors also said the campaign continued afterwards, with Law and others working abroad and Wong supporting the effort from Hong Kong through social media.
The judge said Wong had continued to share social media posts by Law calling for sanctions after the law was introduced. The court treated the earlier activity as background to the case rather than sentencing Wong simply for conduct before the law took effect.
At the September hearing, Wong’s lawyer Derek Chan argued that the case did not fall at the grave end of the offence and asked the judge to consider a sentence within the lower range. Chan also said Wong hoped eventually to care for his parents after his release.
Earlier conviction and political background
Wong has been in custody since November 2020 in connection with other cases. In 2024, he received the four-year and eight-month sentence for conspiracy to commit subversion, after pleading guilty in the case arising from an unofficial primary held by pro-democracy figures in 2020.
He was charged with the separate collusion offence in 2025, while already in prison. The new sentence does not replace the earlier conviction, although the remaining part of the earlier term is to be served at the same time.
Wong first came to prominence as a student campaigner against plans for a national education curriculum in Hong Kong. He later became a familiar figure during the 2014 Umbrella Movement protests, which sought greater democracy in the city.
In 2016, he co-founded the pro-democracy party Demosisto with Law and other activists. The party disbanded in June 2020, shortly before the national security law came into force. Law subsequently continued his advocacy from overseas.
Beijing imposed the law after the large protests that swept Hong Kong in 2019. Hong Kong and Chinese authorities have defended the legislation as necessary to restore stability, and the city’s authorities say their law enforcement actions are based on evidence.
Human rights campaigners dispute the use of the law against peaceful political activity. In response to the sentence, Amnesty International called for Wong’s national security convictions to be overturned, saying the law was being used to punish dissent.
Featured image: AI-generated illustration.
