Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for colluding with foreign forces under the city’s national security law.
The 30-year-old activist was handed the sentence on Thursday after pleading guilty to charges related to efforts to lobby foreign governments to impose sanctions and blockades against China.
Wong was accused of conspiring with other activists, including exiled campaigner Nathan Law, to seek international pressure against Beijing between July and November 2020.
Two months and two days of the new sentence will run concurrently with his existing prison term, meaning he will serve the remainder consecutively.
Wong was already serving a 56-month sentence following his conviction in the Hong Kong 47 subversion case and was expected to be released in January 2027.
His latest sentence means he will remain behind bars for several more years.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee welcomed the ruling, describing Wong and Law as among the main individuals responsible for undermining the city’s prosperity and stability.
Lee said their actions had undermined national sovereignty and security interests and affected the well-being of the public.
However, the sentence has drawn criticism from human rights organisations and pro-democracy activists.
Human Rights Watch described the ruling as cruel and unjust, arguing that authorities were using multiple charges against prominent democracy campaigners to suppress dissent.
Wong’s friend and fellow activist Frances Hui, who is based in the United States, also criticised the decision, saying it represented a wider crackdown on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement.
Wong became one of the most recognisable figures in Hong Kong’s democracy movement as a teenager.
In 2011, aged 14, he co-founded Scholarism, a student activist group that mobilised thousands of people against plans to introduce mandatory patriotic education in schools.
He later became a prominent figure in the 2014 Umbrella Movement, which called for greater democratic freedoms in Hong Kong.
In 2016, he co-founded Demosisto, a pro-democracy political party alongside Nathan Law and Agnes Chow. The party disbanded in 2020 following Beijing’s introduction of the national security law.
The legislation was imposed in June 2020 after months of pro-democracy protests and criminalised acts including secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.
Authorities have defended the law as necessary to restore stability, while critics argue it has been used to restrict political freedoms and silence opposition.
Wong’s sentence is among the harshest handed down under the legislation. Former media tycoon Jimmy Lai was sentenced to 20 years in prison for colluding with foreign forces.
