Hong Kong court sentences Joshua Wong to 10 more years for foreign collusion under national security law

Joshua Wong was due out of prison in January 2027. Instead, a Hong Kong judge handed him another 10 years on Thursday, Nov. 5.

High Court Judge William Tam sentenced the 30-year-old activist for conspiracy to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security, his second conviction under the Beijing-imposed national security law. Wong pleaded guilty in September.

What the court found

Tam said he took 13 years as the starting point and cut it to 10 because of the guilty plea and mitigation. Euronews reported that Wong potentially faced a life term because the offense was ruled "of a grave nature."

The court described Wong and Nathan Law, the exiled co-founder of the now-defunct Demosisto party, as "two ring-leaders or masterminds" of the conspiracy. Tam rejected the argument that Wong's role was limited.

Prosecutors said the conspiracy ran from July to late November 2020. They said Wong and Law lobbied for foreign sanctions and blockades against Beijing.

Tam said Wong traveled to the United States to seek foreign interference before the law took effect in 2020. He said Wong then kept sharing Law's social media posts calling for sanctions after it was enacted. The judge pointed to the U.S. revocation of Hong Kong's special trade treatment and the sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials as the kind of hostile measures the pair had urged.

"The punishment must fit the gravity of the crime committed," Tam wrote. He said the court needed to "express the community's abhorrence" of the scheme and serve "the imperative of general deterrence."

The sentence math

Wong is already serving four years and eight months, imposed in November 2024, for conspiracy to commit subversion in the case tied to an unofficial pro-democracy primary election. He pleaded guilty in that case too.

The judge ordered two months and two days of the new term to run concurrently with the old one. That leaves almost the entire 10 years as additional time.

Wong has been jailed since December 2020. Euronews's count puts his release in late 2036. He turned 30 last month.

Hong Kong authorities charged him with the collusion offense in 2025, while he was already behind bars.

The government's position

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said Wong and Law were "among the primary culprits responsible for undermining Hong Kong's prosperity and stability." Lee said their actions "severely undermined national sovereignty, security, and development interests" and prejudiced the public's well-being.

China's foreign ministry said Beijing "firmly supports" Hong Kong in safeguarding national security under the law. It called on "relevant parties" to respect China's sovereignty and Hong Kong's legal system. Authorities say the law is needed for stability and deny it has weakened the city's autonomy.

Condemnation from abroad

The U.S. consulate in Hong Kong said it "strongly condemns" the sentence and called for Wong's immediate release. A spokesperson said Wong "has been unjustly imprisoned since December 2020." Taiwan criticized what it called "endless political persecution" of Hong Kong's pro-democracy figures.

Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International's deputy regional director, called the sentence "another grim reminder" that the law has become "a tool to punish dissent rather than to genuinely protect national security."

Eric Lai, a research fellow at the Georgetown Center for Asian Law, said the law's charges "can be repeatedly weaponized to keep a specific political prisoner in jail, if the government deems necessary."

Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at SOAS University of London, told AFP the case shows Beijing "is keeping a tight rein over Hong Kong and there's no scope for turning back to the more relaxed days before 2019."

Law, who is in self-imposed exile and wanted by Hong Kong authorities, called Wong's advocacy "peaceful." He said the sentence signals Beijing "is determined to quash any hopes for freedom and democracy on its soil."

Wong's own words

In a statement obtained by the Associated Press, Wong wrote that his political participation was never driven by hatred and that he bears no resentment toward the Chinese or Hong Kong governments. He said he never advocated Hong Kong independence. He wrote that he believed he was acting within the law and later realized his judgment was wrong.

He also wrote that he took university courses and read hundreds of books in prison.

In a mitigation letter seen by AFP, Wong said he had hoped to leave prison in 2027 and that the new charge made him feel he was back at the beginning. He wrote that his future would not be defined by what happened to him before 2020.

A pattern of long sentences

The ruling follows other heavy National Security Law sentences. Media tycoon Jimmy Lai, founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily, received 20 years in February. Tiananmen vigil activists have drawn five to seven years.

Dozens of people queued outside the court, some since Tuesday, for public gallery seats. Police presence was heavy, and a group of international diplomats attended. Wong thanked supporters as he left. Some wept and said, "We'll be waiting for your release."

No release before late 2036 is now on the table unless the sentence changes. Neither Hong Kong authorities nor Wong's representatives have said whether any appeal will be filed.