A former student leader of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement was sentenced to nine years and 10 months in prison on Nov. 5, following his second conviction under a Beijing-imposed national security law that has been used to arrest many of the city’s prominent activists critical of the Chinese communist regime.
Joshua Wong, 30, pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to collude with foreign forces to endanger communist China’s national security.
He first rose to international prominence in 2014 for his role in Hong Kong’s mass pro-democracy protests, known as the Umbrella Movement. That year, Time magazine named him one of the world’s 25 most influential teenagers.
Wong cofounded a Hong Kong political party, Demosisto, in 2016, with fellow young activists Nathan Law and Agnes Chow. However, the party disbanded shortly after the regime’s national security law took effect in 2020.
In 2018, then-U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers nominated Wong, Law, Chow, and the entire pro-democracy Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong for the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 2021, Wong was among 47 activists charged under the national security law over their involvement in an unofficial primary election that involved candidates not vetted by Beijing. The case drew international criticism of the Chinese Communist Party’s interference in Hong Kong’s governance. Wong was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison in November 2024 and was originally expected to be released in January 2027 for that charge.
On Nov. 5, Hong Kong High Court Judge William Tam handed down the new 10-year sentence against Wong.
According to a press release, Tam characterized Wong’s offense as of “grave nature.”
The judge also stated that he considered imposing a 13-year prison sentence as a starting point but decided to reduce it to 10 years because of the defendant’s guilty plea.
Wong had two months and two days left on his previous sentence, the judge said, adding that he could serve the little that remained from the first sentence concurrently.
In November 2016, Wong visited Washington, where he met with U.S. lawmakers, including Rubio, amid discussions over the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law in 2019.
“Joshua is an impressive and thoughtful young man who, along with his fellow activists, represents the future of Hong Kong—a future that must not go the way of Beijing’s failed authoritarianism and one-party rule,” then-Sen. Rubio wrote in a Facebook post in November 2016 after meeting Wong.
In May 2017, Wong testified before a U.S. congressional hearing convened by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), then chaired by Rubio. He urged bipartisan support for Hong Kong’s democracy and autonomy.
“I hope Democrats and Republicans alike can work together to defend the fundamental human rights value that they share, which Hong Kongers will continue to fight hard against Communist Regime—for the day will come for us with democracy and [to] exercise our right of self-determination,” Wong said at the hearing.
Wong testified before another CECC hearing in September 2019, just months after millions of Hong Kong residents took to the streets to protest a controversial extradition bill pushed by Beijing.
“Beijing should not have it both ways, reaping all the economic benefit of Hong Kong’s standing in the world while eroding our freedom,” Wong said at the hearing.
Hong Kong court’s decision immediately drew condemnation from rights groups.
In a statement, the CECC noted that Wong was being sentenced for “peacefully defending freedoms Beijing promised to respect.”
“His case again shows how Hong Kong’s courts are being weaponized to advance repression, and today’s sentence should be globally condemned,” the commission said. “This champion of freedom must be released unconditionally.”
The D.C.-based Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation urged the international community to demand Wong’s immediate release.
“It’s a gross abuse of ‘justice’ to imprison a man for one supposed crime, only to arrest him again behind bars to ensure he never gets out,” Frances Hui, the committee’s policy and advocacy manager, said in a statement.
Megan Khoo, policy and advocacy director of London-based Hong Kong Watch, called for Wong’s “immediate and unconditional release.”
“Joshua has spent more than 2,100 days behind bars for the ‘crime’ of advocating for freedom and democracy, and will continue to do so for another 10 years,” Khoo said in a statement.
“The flagrant political prosecution of Joshua Wong is a clear example of the weaponisation of the Hong Kong National Security Law to criminalise any hint of dissent and indefinitely prolong the imprisonment of pro-democracy activists.”
The D.C.-based Hong Kong Democracy Council called on the White House and the U.S. State Department to raise Wong’s case in its upcoming bilateral engagements with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Shenzhen in November and Florida in December.
“We hope the administration will extend its efforts on behalf of political prisoners to Joshua and others imprisoned for peacefully exercising their rights in Hong Kong,” the council said in a statement.
“Joshua helped a generation believe it could shape Hong Kong’s future. We hope that sustained international attention and diplomatic engagement can help him regain his freedom and return to his family.”
We had a problem loading this article. Please enable javascript or use a different browser. If the issue persists, please visit our help center.