Joshua Wong Receives Ten-Year Sentence for Second National Security Conviction
The judge reduced the term from a proposed 13 years after the activist pleaded guilty, allowing him to serve the new time concurrently with his existing sentence.
By Nadia Rahman ·
Joshua Wong, the 30-year-old Hong Kong activist, left the court on Thursday with a new ten-year prison sentence. The judge handed down the verdict for a second conviction under the Beijing-imposed national security law. Critics view the ruling as evidence of a continued crackdown on the city's pro-democracy movement.
Wong had pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security. His lawyer, Derek Chan, had asked the court to keep the sentence manageable so Wong could care for his parents after release. Judge William Tam rejected the argument that Wong's role was limited, calling the offense grave. Tam stated he started with a 13-year benchmark but lowered it because of the guilty plea.
The new sentence will run concurrently with the four-year, eight-month term Wong is already serving. That current term stems from the city's largest national security case linked to an unofficial primary. Before this latest prosecution, Wong was scheduled for release in January 2027. With the concurrent sentences, he has roughly two months remaining on his incarceration.
During the hearing, Wong appeared calm and thanked his supporters before exiting. Tiffany Chin, a former member of Scholarism, the student group Wong once led, was seen crying. Resident ET Wong, a supporter, spoke to the press about Wong's early leadership. She recalled that he possessed big-picture thinking even as a teenager. "At least in my heart, he should not have spent a single day in wrongful imprisonment," she said.
The prosecution argued that Wong and fellow activist Nathan Law agreed in or around 2016 to lobby internationally for democratic self-determination. Officials said the pair called for sanctions and other adverse measures against Hong Kong and China. The case cited meetings Wong held with U.S. politicians Nancy Pelosi and Marco Rubio in 2016 and 2019. After the security law was enacted, Law continued the work abroad while Wong supported the effort from Hong Kong via foreign media and social media.
Beijing regards Wong as an anti-China figure who supports Hong Kong independence. Authorities maintain the security law is necessary for stability following the 2019 protests. Eric Lai, a research fellow at the Georgetown Center for Asian Law, noted that NSL charges can be weaponized to keep specific political prisoners in jail. In September, a pro-Beijing newspaper criticized a 2017 Netflix documentary about Wong for beautifying his crimes. The city's security bureau said it was taking follow-up action, but the documentary rose to the top of Netflix's popular chart in Hong Kong.
