Jailed Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong has been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to conspiring to collude with foreign forces, his second conviction under a Beijing-imposed national security law.

Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong announcing his run for the 2019 District Council elections in Hong Kong on September 28, 2019. Photo: Philip Fong/AFP.

Wong was accused of conspiring with self-exiled activist Nathan Law and other unnamed individuals in 2020 to request foreign countries to impose sanctions and blockades, or engage in other hostile activities, directed against the governments of Hong Kong and mainland China.

The pair, both co-founders of the now-disbanded pro-democracy party Demosisto, had engaged in an “international battlefront” in the wake of the 2019 protests and unrest.

They lobbied for the passing of legislation such as the US’s Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, prosecutors said.

Joshua Wong. File photo: Studio Incendo.

Wong has been held by authorities since November 2020, when he pleaded guilty to inciting and organising an unauthorised assembly outside police headquarters during the 2019 protests.

He pleaded guilty to conspiring to subvert state power in the landmark national security case known as the “Hong Kong 47,” in which 45 prominent pro-democracy campaigners were convicted and sentenced to up to 10 years in jail in 2024.

In February, media mogul Jimmy Lai was sentenced to 20 years in jail for conspiring to collude with foreign forces, while three former executives of his Apple Daily newspaper were given 10-year prison terms.

Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution in June 2020 following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest. It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts – broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure. The move gave police sweeping new powers and led to hundreds of arrests amid new legal precedents, while dozens of civil society groups disappeared. The authorities say it restored stability and peace to the city, rejecting criticism from trade partners, the UN and NGOs.

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