Hong Kong court sentences Joshua Wong to ten years for foreign collusion

Joshua Wong, who became the face of Hong Kong's democracy movement as a teenager, was sentenced to ten years in prison on Thursday after pleading guilty to foreign collusion. It is his second conviction under the national security law Beijing imposed in 2020, and it makes him the only activist in the city prosecuted twice under it. The High Court ruled the new term will run concurrently with his existing sentence.

The charge rested on Wong's work with Nathan Law, an activist now in exile, to urge foreign powers to impose sanctions, blockades or other "hostile measures" against China. High Court judge William Tam described the actions as "grave in nature", noting that Wong had travelled to the United States to seek foreign interference before the law existed, and continued to share Law's social media posts calling for sanctions after it came into force. Tam said Wong's role had been to "supply his underground support" and "arouse the attention of foreign countries to bolster the cause" of exiled activists. The conduct described in the charge consists of urging foreign governments to act against Beijing, and reposting an exile who urged the same.

Wong has been detained since 2020, nearly six years in total. He was already serving four years and eight months, imposed in November 2024 for conspiracy to commit subversion over his role in an unofficial primary election, and he submitted his guilty plea in the new case in September.

He rose to prominence during the 2014 Umbrella protests, which paralysed Hong Kong's financial centre and put him on the cover of Time magazine under the headline "The Face of Protest". When the 2019 demonstrations over a proposed extradition bill broke out, he was in prison for his part in the earlier rallies; released at their height, he went straight back to the streets. Beijing introduced the security law the following year, calling it necessary to restore stability to the former British colony. Critics say it has since been used to jail the political opposition, dissolve civil society groups and silence independent media.

Wong, now 30, wore a dark blue shirt and thick-rimmed glasses in court and nodded and bowed as supporters waved. He had been due for release in January 2027.