Hong Kong court sentences Joshua Wong to 10 years in prison, extending his term just two months before his release

[Financial News] A court sentenced Joshua Wong, 30, a Hong Kong pro-democracy activist, to 10 years in prison for violating the national security law.
According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP) and other outlets on the 5th, Hong Kong’s High Court sentenced Joshua Wong to 10 years in prison on charges of conspiring with foreign forces under the national security law. He was serving a sentence and was just two months away from release.
In connection with the pro-democracy camp’s unofficial primary election in 2020, he admitted to conspiring to subvert state power under the national security law. He was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison in November 2024 and is serving that term.
Judge William Tam said, “Punishment must be commensurate with the seriousness of the crime,” adding, “The court needs to express society’s abhorrence of the defendant’s plans and actions to collude with foreign or external forces and endanger national security.”
While in prison, Joshua Wong was additionally charged with conspiring with pro-democracy activists including Nathan Law, who fled abroad, to call on foreign governments and institutions to impose sanctions or blockades on China and Hong Kong, or take other hostile measures, from July to November 2020.
Last September, he pleaded guilty to the charges but said he had never advocated Hong Kong’s independence or regime change in mainland China.
Reuters reported that Wong appeared in court that day with short hair, wearing a blue shirt and dark-rimmed glasses, and nodded several times toward the public gallery before the sentence was handed down.
Wong first came to prominence in 2012, as a teenager, when he led a campaign against the introduction of Chinese-style national education in Hong Kong schools. In 2014, he emerged as a leading figure in what became known as the “Umbrella Revolution,” which called for the direct election of the chief executive, among other things. He was later sentenced to prison several times, including for unlawful assembly related to the 2019 anti-government protests, and has been incarcerated since November 2020.
He had been expected to be released around January next year, but this sentence has extended his time in prison.
The Chinese government said it supported the Hong Kong court’s ruling and urged Western countries not to interfere in China’s internal affairs.
At a regular briefing that day, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said, commenting on the court’s sentence for Joshua Wong, “Hong Kong is a society governed by the rule of law. The basic principle is that the law must be followed and violations must be punished.”
He added, “Joshua Wong committed the crime of endangering national security by conspiring with foreign or external forces, and admitted his guilt because the crime was serious and he could not offer an explanation in the face of the many facts and pieces of evidence.” He stressed, “The Chinese central government firmly supports the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in safeguarding national security and cracking down, in accordance with the law, on acts that endanger national security.”
In response to international concerns about the sentence, Guo said, “Irresponsible remarks must stop,” and asserted, “All forms of interference in Hong Kong’s judiciary or meddling in China’s internal affairs must stop.”
International human rights organizations and Western countries are watching how the national security law operates in Hong Kong, a former British colony.
In February this year, Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy figure Jimmy Lai was sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of colluding with foreign forces and sedition, drawing international criticism.

[email protected] Lee Seok-woo, international affairs correspondent Reporter