Hong Kong Court Sentences Joshua Wong to Decade Behind Bars
Judge William Tam reduced a starting 13-year term to 10 years after the 30-year-old activist pleaded guilty to colluding with foreign forces.
By Jonathan Reed ·
Wong will serve 10 years in prison for his second conviction under Hong Kong's national security law. The sentence was handed down Thursday by Judge William Tam. It marks the latest step in Beijing's efforts to confine the city's most visible pro-democracy figure. The court rejected the argument that Wong played a limited role in the offense, describing the nature of the crime as grave.
The 30-year-old activist was charged in 2025 with conspiracy to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security. He entered a guilty plea in September, a move that typically allows judges to lower the final penalty. Tam stated that he initially considered a 13-year sentence but cut the time because of that plea. Wong is already serving a separate term of four years and eight months for his first national security conviction. That first charge stemmed from an unofficial primary election, for which he also pleaded guilty.
Before this new charge, Wong was scheduled for release in January 2027. He now has only about two months left on that original sentence. The judge ruled that the two terms can be served concurrently. This decision means his total time behind bars will be determined by the longer 10-year sentence rather than the sum of both convictions.
Wong appeared calm as he left the courtroom, thanking supporters who gathered outside. Tiffany Chin, a former member of the Scholarism student group, was seen in tears among the crowd. Resident ET Wong, a supporter, described the activist as having possessed big-picture thinking as a teenager. She argued that he should not have spent a single day in what she called wrongful imprisonment.
Prosecutors alleged that Wong and fellow activist Nathan Law agreed around 2016 to lobby internationally for democratic self-determination. The case cites meetings Wong held with U.S. politicians, including Nancy Pelosi and Marco Rubio, in 2016 and 2019. Authorities claim the pair called for sanctions and other adverse measures against Hong Kong and China. After the security law was enacted, the prosecution said Law continued this work abroad while Wong supported the effort from Hong Kong through foreign media and social media.
Eric Lai, a research fellow at the Georgetown Center for Asian Law, said the sentencing demonstrates how national security charges can be repeatedly used to keep specific political prisoners in jail. Beijing views Wong as an anti-China figure who supports independence, a position it considers a red line. The city's security bureau maintains that the law is essential for stability after the 2019 protests. A pro-Beijing newspaper recently criticized a 2017 Netflix documentary about Wong, calling it a beautification of his crimes, though the film subsequently climbed to the top of local popularity charts.
Wong's defense attorney, Derek Chan, had asked the court for a sentence that offered hope for his client. Chan noted that Wong intends to care for his parents after his release. Friends reported that during his nearly six years in prison, Wong continued to read, exercise, and teach himself guitar. The next step in the process involves the formal transfer of the sentence order to prison authorities.
