HONG KONG, Nov 5 (Reuters) — Activist Joshua Wong, who became the global face of Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, was sentenced on Thursday to 10 years in jail on a charge of collusion with foreign entities under the city's national security law, Reuters reported. Wong was among a group of young people whose protest efforts have effectively been outlawed by the sweeping national security law Beijing imposed on the Asian financial hub in 2020, after sometimes violent demonstrations.

Source: Reuters

"The punishment must fit the gravity of the crime," High Court Judge William Tam told a packed courtroom while delivering the sentence, Reuters reported. "It is also necessary for the court to express the community's abhorrence of the defendant's scheme and acts with others to collude with foreign forces or external elements to endanger national security," the judge said.

Source: Reuters

The charge and the guilty plea

Wong faced a single count of conspiracy to collude with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security, Dimsum Daily reported. The charge stated that between July 1, 2020 and November 23, 2020, while in Hong Kong, he conspired with self-exiled activist Nathan Law and other persons whose identities remain unknown, and that the alleged object was to request foreign or external institutions, organisations or individuals to impose sanctions, a blockade or other hostile measures against the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region or the People's Republic of China.

Source: Dimsum Daily

He pleaded guilty to the charge in September — Human Rights Watch dates the formal plea to September 2 — but has said he never called for independence for Hong Kong or sought regime change in China. "I have never advocated Hong Kong independence, nor have I ever promoted the 'collapse of China' or regime change," Wong said during the trial's mitigation phase, according to Reuters. "I have also never received foreign funding or spent money to hire foreign political consultants." He said he believed at the time he was within the bounds of the law, only to realise later he "had been mistaken".

Source: Reuters

In custody since November 2020

Wong has been in detention since November 2020, when he pleaded guilty to inciting and organising an unauthorised anti-government assembly during the protests that roiled the Asian financial hub in 2019, and he had been due for release next year, Reuters reported. He was already serving a term after pleading guilty in the 47-person primary election case when he was arrested again in June 2025 inside Stanley Prison over the fresh national security allegation, Dimsum Daily reported. The case is listed as HCCC 181/2026.

Source: Dimsum Daily

Of the new 10-year sentence, two months and two days are to run concurrently with the term Wong is already serving, Dimsum Daily reported. Wearing a blue shirt and dark-framed glasses, Wong, flanked by three guards, repeatedly nodded to the public gallery ahead of the sentencing, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters

The cases of Wong and others are being closely watched by international human rights groups and some Western and Asian countries tracking the implementation of the national security law in the former British colony, Reuters said. In February, media tycoon Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong's most vocal China critic, was jailed for 20 years for collusion with foreign forces and sedition after a landmark trial that sparked international criticism.

Source: Reuters

What rights groups and Beijing say

Human Rights Watch called the charges baseless and the sentence cruel and unjust. "The harsh sentence on baseless charges against Joshua Wong is cruel and unjust," said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Young people promoting social change are an asset for any vibrant society, but the Hong Kong government puts them behind bars." The group said the court ruled Wong's offence was of a "grave nature", and noted the National Security Law sets prison terms of 3 to 10 years for "foreign collusion", or 10 years to life for offences deemed to be of a "grave nature".

Source: Human Rights Watch

Beijing said the law was necessary to stabilise the city, Reuters reported. Beijing calls Wong a "black hand" of foreign forces, and the judge said the offences took place between July 1 and November 23, 2020, a time when Hong Kong was facing a high risk to its rule of law. At a September hearing, the prosecution highlighted what it called an international media and political campaign by Demosisto, the now-disbanded political party of which Wong was a leader, that sought to bring sanctions and other hostile actions on Hong Kong and China in 2019 and 2020.

Source: Reuters