Hong Kong’s High Court on Thursday, 5 November 2026, sentenced pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, 30, to 10 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to conspiring to collude with foreign forces under the Beijing-imposed national security law. It is his second conviction under the law.
Judge William Tam said the offence was of a “grave nature”, which carries a minimum of 10 years. He set a starting point of 13 years and reduced it by three years for Wong’s guilty plea, entered on 2 September.
Wong was accused of conspiring with self-exiled activist Nathan Law and others in 2020 to ask foreign countries to impose sanctions and blockades, or engage in other hostile activities, against the governments of Hong Kong and mainland China. Prosecutors said they lobbied for legislation such as the US Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act.
Wong is already serving a four-year, eight-month term for conspiracy to subvert state power in the “Hong Kong 47” case. The judge ordered the new 10-year term to run concurrently with the remaining two months of that sentence, meaning Wong is likely to remain in prison until 2036, when he turns 40, unless he receives sentence remission.
Wong has been in custody since November 2020 and had been due for release in January.
The featured image is a generic stock photo of the Hong Kong skyline at night.
Source: Hong Kong Free Press
