Hong Kong jails Joshua Wong for a decade in collusion case

(Bloomberg) — A Hong Kong court sentenced prominent pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong to 10 years in prison for his second national security conviction, extending his incarceration just two months before he was due to be freed.

The term handed down by the High Court on Thursday was among the heaviest imposed under the Beijing-imposed national security law, surpassed only by former media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s 20-year sentence and matching that given to former law professor Benny Tai.

The three were leading figures in a movement for greater political freedoms in the semiautonomous Chinese territory. Their imprisonment underscores authorities’ efforts to crack down on dissent since Beijing enacted the security legislation following mass protests in 2019.

Wong, who turned 30 in prison last month, pleaded guilty this year to conspiring to collude with foreign forces. He has spent almost six years behind bars and had been due for release in January after serving a sentence for subversion.

Judge William Tam ruled that Wong’s offense was of a grave nature, rejecting the defense’s argument that his role in the conspiracy was limited. He reduced a 13-year sentencing starting point by three years for Wong’s guilty plea and mitigation. Tam also ordered two months and two days of Wong’s sentence to overlap with his existing term.

Supporters reached toward Wong at the dock before he was quickly ushered out of the courtroom. Wearing a dark blue shirt, Wong had waved and nodded to supporters in the public gallery as he entered. Some members of the public had waited outside for two days to secure a seat.

Collusion offenses deemed to be severe carry a minimum of 10 years and up to life imprisonment, while the punishment for lesser offenses starts from three years. A guilty plea typically leads to a more lenient sentence.

Lai, founder of the now-defunct newspaper Apple Daily, received 17 years in February for each of his two collusion charges, to be served largely concurrently, in addition to the penalty for a sedition conviction that brought the overall term to 20 years. Lai pleaded not guilty to the allegations.

Once the poster boy of Hong Kong’s now-stifled democracy movement, Wong began activism at age 15 and rose to international fame in 2014 by fronting the student-led Umbrella Movement.

He has been in custody since late 2020 and sentenced multiple times for his role in the anti-government protests that convulsed the city in 2019.

Following the large and sometimes violent demonstrations, Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong that led to the imprisonment of dozens of former opposition lawmakers and activists. Officials say the law has restored stability and order to the financial hub, while Western governments and human rights monitors argue it silenced critics.

In 2025, prosecutors charged Wong of conspiring, between July and November 2020, with exiled activist Nathan Law and others to call for foreign sanctions, a blockade or other hostile actions against Hong Kong or Chinese authorities.

The court cited Wong and Law’s foreign media interviews, social media posts and contacts with overseas officials before the security law as context for their campaign. After the law took effect, the judge said, they continued those efforts but adapted their roles.

U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on China, called the collusion charge against Wong “baseless” and urged his immediate release in a statement. Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director Sarah Brooks said the sentence showed how the national security law had become “a tool to punish dissent rather than to genuinely protect national security.”

 Chief Superintendent Steve Li of the police’s National Security Department called the sentence “proper” when asked by reporters outside the court, adding that he’ll discuss potential next steps with the Department of Justice.

“I sincerely hope that for the rest of his time in the prison, apart from reflecting on the wrongdoings he has done to the country and to Hong Kong, he must seize the opportunity to learn how to respect the law and properly understand his own country,” he said.

— With assistance from Twinnie Siu, Felix Tam and Rika Yoshida.

(Updates with more reactions.)

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.