HONG KONG — A Hong Kong court sentenced Joshua Wong to 10 years in prison on Thursday, his second conviction under the national security law Beijing imposed on the city in 2020.
What the court decided
Wong, 30, pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security. He was charged in 2025. High Court Judge William Tam said the offense was grave and rejected arguments that Wong played only a limited role.
Ten years is the floor the law sets for the most serious category of the offense, according to legal experts who followed the case.
Stacked on an earlier sentence
Wong was already serving four years and eight months for his part in an unofficial 2020 primary election, the largest national security case the city has brought. He had been expected to walk free in January 2027.
He has now spent nearly six years behind bars. Supporters gathered outside the High Court before the sentence was read, holding signs and calling his name. Some said they would keep pressing for his release.
What it means for the movement
Wong became the face of Hong Kong's 2014 Umbrella Movement as a teenager and later helped lead the 2019 protests. Most of the city's best-known democracy campaigners are now in prison or in exile.
Western governments call the national security law a tool for silencing dissent. Hong Kong authorities say the law restored order after the 2019 unrest and that every case goes through the courts.
The sentence lands as the city's political opposition has been largely dismantled. Dozens of former legislators and activists face long terms, and several civil society groups have closed. Analysts say the case shows authorities intend to keep the most visible figures out of public life well into the next decade.
For Wong's family the effect is simple. A man who might have been released within weeks will now be in his early forties before he is eligible to leave prison.