A Hong Kong court jailed Joshua Wong for 10 years on Thursday for colluding with foreign forces, his second conviction under the national security law Beijing imposed in 2020.
The backstory: Wong co-founded the student group Scholarism at 14 and became the face of the 2014 Umbrella Movement. He turned 30 last month and has been imprisoned repeatedly since his teens.
- Prosecutors said Wong conspired with the self-exiled activist Nathan Law to lobby for foreign sanctions and blockades against Beijing between July and late November 2020.
Zoom in: Two months and two days of the new term run concurrently with the 56-month subversion sentence he is already serving, the judge said on Thursday.
What they're saying: Hong Kong chief executive John Lee said Wong and Law were among the primary culprits responsible for undermining the city’s prosperity and stability, and that their actions prejudiced the well-being of the general public.
- Human Rights Watch Asia director Elaine Pearson called the ruling "cruel and unjust" and said the government appears to be stacking charges against influential pro-democracy leaders.
The other side: Authorities argue the law is needed to maintain stability and deny it has weakened the city’s cherished autonomy. Critics say it has silenced dissent.
- Dozens of Hongkongers queued for hours for a seat in the packed public gallery, with a heavy police presence outside the court.
Why it matters: The harshest sentence under the law so far went to media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who got 20 years for the same collusion offence, and Wong’s term shows the price Beijing now attaches to peaceful political organising.
